UNIVERS  T 


OF  CALIFORN  A      AN  D  EGC 


1822  02695  5252 


3  1822  02695  5252 


ABOUT    GRANT 


BY 

JOHN    L.    SWIFT 


BOSTON 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD,   PUBLISHERS 

NEW  YORK 

CHARLES    T.   DILLINGHAM 
1880 


COPYRIGHT,  1880, 
Bv   LEE  AND  SHEPARD. 


All  rights  reserved. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY  WORD. 


A  LIFE  of  Grant  tells  us,  that,  when  a  boy  twelve  years 
of  age,  he  was  driving  in  Kentucky  a  pair  of  horses 
attached  to  a  light  wagon  in  which  were  two  young 

women.     In  crossing  White  Oak  Creek,  the  back-water 

• 
of  the  Ohio  had  so  swollen  the  stream,  that  the  party 

found  itself  afloat  in  the  middle  of  the  flood.  The 
women  became  alarmed,  and  shouted  vigorously  for 
assistance. 

The  boy,  in  perfect  self-possession,  said,  "  Keep  quiet : 
I'll  take  you  through  safe." 

He  did  so ;  and  from  that  time  on  he  was  conspicuous 
for  coolness,  judgment,  and  signal  readiness  in  emer- 
gency. 

The  first  battle  of  significance  fought  in  the  great 
American  civil  conflict,  of  sufficient  importance  to  change 
public  opinion  here  and  elsewhere,  was  won  by  him  when 
thirty-nine  years  of  age. 

This  victory,  following  as  it  did  a  prolonged  season  of 
almost  uninterrupted  disaster  to  our  arms,  introduced 
to  the  world  this  principal  hero  of  the  war  of  the  Ret>el- 

3 


.4  AN  INTRODUCTORY  WORD. 

lion,  one  of  the  very  few  who  have  rendered  illustrious  the 
nineteenth  century. 

To  show  his  important  share  in  the  momentous  events 
through  which  the  nation  has  passed  since  1861,  and  to 
present  some  of  the  reasons  why  millions  of  the  Ameri- 
can citizens  whose  fidelity  to  the  flag  never  faltered 
regard  him  as  the  true  leader  in  the  grave  emergency 
depending  on  the  election  of  1880,  this  book  is  written 
about  Grant. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 
I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR    . 
THE  FIRST  GREAT  VICTORY 
THE  FIRST  RE-ACTION  . 
UNDER  A  CLOUD    . 
A  BLOW  THAT  TOLD 
WHAT  VICKSBURG  SETTLED  . 
CLOSING  THE  GAPS 


PAGE 

9 
*S 

20 

25 
32 
40 

47 


THE  FIRE  IN  THE  REAR 52 

UNION  BALLOTS  AND  UNION  BULLETS       .       .  56 

THE  VANQUISHED  CHIEF 65 

THE  VANISHED  CAPITAL 69 

BREAKING  RANKS 72 

FIRST  ATTEMPT  TO  "CLASP"       ....  77 

Ad  Interim  SECRETARY 83 

THE  CHANGED  CONSTITUTION      ....  88 
GRANT'S  HARDEST  BATTLE  .       •••-'•        .       -97 

THE  BESOTTED  NATION 104 

THE  OLD  FIGHT  IN  A  NEW  FORM     .       .       .114 

THE  WAR  DOLLAR 127 

THE  FIAT  DOLLAR 132 

THE  HONEST  DOLLAR 136 

IMPERIALISM 145 

GRANT  ABROAD 153 

5 


6  CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIV.    His  WELCOME  HOME 163 

XXV.    THE  PERIL  OF  SOLIDITY 173 

XXVI.  THE  BATTLE  AND  THE  BATTLE-GROUND     .       .    184 

XXVII.  THE  NATIONAL  NEED,  —  "A  STRONG  MAN"    .    192 


GRANT  AND  THE  TURNING  TIDE 
OF  WAR. 


"  In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not  in  mine,  is 
the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  government  will  not  assail  you. 
You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors.  You 
have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the  government ;  while  I 
have  the  most  solemn  one  to  '  preserve,  protect,  and  .defend  it.' "  — 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  :  First  Inaugural. 

"  I  don't  know  any  thing  about  making  speeches ;  that  is  not  in  my 
line  :  but  we  are  forming  a  company  in  Galena,  and  mean  to  do  what  we 
can  for  putting  down  the  Rebellion.  If  any  of  you  feel  like  enlisting,  I 
will  give  you  all  the  information  and  help  I  can."  —  GRANT'S  First  Speech. 


ABOUT    GRANT. 


CHAPTER   I. 

FIRST    YEAR   OF   THE   WAR. 

"THE  fall  of  Sumter  was  the  resurrection  of 
patriotism."  The  news  came  as  "  if  a  mighty 
thunderbolt  had  been  launched  from  the  hand  of 
the  Omnipotent "  to  startle  the  torpor  of  the  re- 
public. It  banished  the  compromising  tone  which 
had  prevailed,  and  evoked  a  sense  of  responsibility 
and  manhood  beyond  the  calculations  of  the  most 
sanguine  patriot.  Yet,  from  the  hour  that  an 
alien  flag  "  flaunted  "  over  this  conquered  fortress, 
steadily,  with  a  uniformity  that  tested  the  endur- 
ance of  the  American  people  to  the  utmost,  de- 
feat by  superior  strategy,  and  constant  mishap, 
had  attended  every  loyal  military  effort.  The 
seventy-five  thousand  men  who  with  alacrity  re- 
sponded to  the  call  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  "  re- 
possess the  forts,  places,  and  property  taken  from 
the  Union  by  the  rebels,"  like  snow  under  a  tropi- 

9 


10  ABOUT  GRANT. 

cal  sun  had  melted  away  in  the  hot  blaze  of  civil 
struggle,  without  a  sign  of  final  success. 

The  hasty  and  unjustifiable  proclamation  in 
which  France' had  joined  with  England  in  bestow- 
ing recognition  to  armed  bands  of  slave-owners 
seeking  to  destroy  a  friendly  government  had 
made  again  apparent  the  fact  that  the  shopkeep- 
ing  instincts  of  Great  Britain  shaped  her  foreign 
policy.  To  see  a  country  that  had  boasted  over 
the  liberation  of  its  own  slaves  indirectly  though 
deliberately  throw  its  moral  weight  on  the  side  of 
an  attempt  to  found  a  nation  on  the  right  of  one 
race  to  own  and  enslave  another,  had,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Minister  Adams,  "  made  a  most  unfavor- 
able impression  upon  right-minded  statesmen  and 
philanthropic  Christians  everywhere."  While  this 
abandonment  of  the  principles  of  religion  for  the 
precepts  of  commerce  had  shocked  those  who 
looked  to  England  for  a  higher  example  of  justice 
and  duty,  it  also  augmented  the  severe  burdens  of 
the  republic,  and  in  some  aspects  was  a  more  diffi- 
cult question  to  adjust  than  to  repair  or  overcome 
the  damage  to  our  cause  in  the  field. 

In  July,  1861,  occurred  the  battle  of  Bull  Run, 
with  a  result  so  lamentable  to  the  national  side, 
that  no  American  can  turn  back  without  pain  to 
the  remembrance  of  that  scene  of  holiday  folly 
which  marked  the  morning  of  the  fatal  day,  or 
recall  without  a  blush  that  sad  sunset  which  saw 
the  mad,  impetuous  flight  of  the  lately  proud 
American  army. 


FIRST  YEAR  OF  THE   WAR.  II 

The  bitterest  moment,  however,  that  Northern 
hearts  ever  knew  was  not  when  they  heard  of 
prisoners  taken  at  Bull  Run  by  the  thousands, 
and  of  the  reprehensible  conduct  of  incompetent 
officers,  or  of  the  promiscuous  race  for  the  rear 
between  civilians  who  left  their  hampers  behind 
them  and  the  soldiers  who  threw  away  their 
knapsacks,  or  in  the  destruction  of  the  first  real 
army  that  had  been  sent  out  with  great  hope ;  but 
when  the  chief  traitor  patronizingly  implored  the 
rebel  masses  to  pity  the  North,  and  "never  be 
haughty  to  the  humble,"  then  the  iron  entered 
deep  into  the  loyal  soul.  Though  the  army  re- 
treated at  Bull  Run,  patriotism  did  not.  Before 
the  end  of  July,  in  sight  of  our  beaten  army  at 
full  run,  it  was  voted  through  the  national  repre- 
sentatives to  fight  on  for  the  cause  with  more 
men  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  more  money 
by  hundreds  of  millions. 

The  death  of  Lyon  and  the  prevalence  of  disas- 
ter in  Missouri ;  dangerous  complications  in  Ken- 
tucky ;  a  most  disheartening  repulse  at  Ball's  Bluff, 
inflicting  a  national  calamity  in  the  loss  of  Baker, 
an  eminent  statesman  and  bra.ve  soldier ;  "  The 
Trent "  affair,  almost  provoking  foreign  interfer- 
ence ;  repeated  ill  success  at  the  front ;  political 
divisions  at  the  North,  beginning  a  baleful  career 
of  disorder ;  chaos  in  values  ;  the  rise  of  the  specu- 
lative spirit ;  the  separation  of  the  people  into  two 
parties,  —  one  trusting  government  with  money, 
the  other  denying  the  capacity  of  the  government 


12  ABOUT  GRANT. 

to  fulfil  its  obligations ;  credit  trembling  in  the 
balance  ;  heavy  loans  put  on  the  market ;  gold  dis- 
appearing ;  the  public  pride  smarting  under  the 
domineering  tone  of  the  English  Government  in 
its  mercenary  diplomacy ;  vacant  chairs  around 
loyal  hearthstones  and  firesides ;  insignia  of 
mourning  everywhere  in  sight;  —  all  this,  without 
an  instance  of  successful  leadership  or  any  vic- 
tory to  cheer  the  tried  energy  and  resolution  of 
the  Union  element,  or  to  compensate  severe  loss 
of  life  and  treasure,  was  the  dismal  record  of  the 
first  nine  months  of  the  Rebellion. 

The  beginning  of  the  year  1862  saw  treason 
elated  with  its  conquests,  —  the  South  full  of  hope, 
and  animated  with  military  renown  ;  while  loyalty, 
with  no  inspiration  of  military  success,  struggled 
against  a  ceaseless  flood-tide  of  misfortune. 

The  battle  of  Belmont  was  fought  by  Grant  as 
brigadier-general  of  volunteers  in  November,  1861. 
At  the  time  the  country  thought  the  affair  a  failure, 
and  Grant  was  regarded  with  distrust,  although 
the  success  of  the  movement  was  complete  and 
in  accordance  with  his  plan.  It  protected  an 
operation  of  our  aijmy  that  the  enemy  designed  to 
check,  and  changed  the  latter's  campaign  in  Mis- 
souri from  aggressive  to  defensive  ;  but  the  main 
value  of  this  movement  was  in  its  development  of 
the  character  and  qualities  of  the  coming  chief 
of  our  armies.  The  perfect  management  of  his 
command,  the  individual  coolness  and  observance 
of  the  situation  which  make  retreat  equal  to  vie- 


FfRST  YEAR  OF  THE    WAR.  13 

tory,  the  gift  of  laconic  expression,  —  a  rare  char- 
acteristic of  the  rarest  soldiers,  —  the  display  of 
an  inflexible  will  united  with  a  discreet  judgment, 
were  the  revelations  of  the  contest  at  Belmont. 

A  striking  feature  of  the  character  of  Gen. 
Grant  is  reserved  power.  Where  circumstances 
are  the  least  favorable  and  the  most  involved,  he 
is  then  the  clearest  in  purpose  and  the  strongest 
in  resolve.  This  contingent  of  internal  strength 
in  the  midst  of  external  difficulty  never  has  de- 
serted him.  At  Belmont  he  was  in  an  exceeding- 
ly precarious  position.  He  had  fought  skilfully, 
and  had  forced  in  the  rebels  and  broken  up  their 
camp,  but  was  in  no  condition  for,  and  had  no  in- 
tention of,  holding  the  ground.  The  re-enforced 
enemy  massed  upon  him.  "  We  are  surrounded 
and  lost,"  said  one  of  his  alarmed  staff.  "  No," 
said  Grant,  "  we  have  whipped  them  once  :  we  can 
whip  them  again.  We  cut  in  :  we  must  cut  out." 
At  Pittsburg  Landing,  as  his  lines  were  slowly 
but  surely  being  driven  back,  every  step  made 
scarlet  with  heroic  blood,  Grant  was  asked  what 
arrangements  had  been  made  for  retreat.  "  I  have 
not  given  up  the  idea  yet  of  whipping  them,"  was 
the  answer.  He  held  on,  and  whipped  them  ;  and 
these  pithy  sayings  passed  into  the  language  of 
the  camp.  With  regularity  that  seems  at  times 
the  consequence  of  special  design,  the  grave  mili- 
tary and  civil  responsibilities  devolved  upon  him 
have  presented  at  their  commencement  the  unfail- 
ing emergency  of  disadvantage  and  uncertainty, 


14  ABOUT  GRANT. 

to  end,  by  his  foresight  and  indomitable  persisten- 
cy, both  in  personal  and  national  triumph.  It  was 
when  the  country  had  been  so  strained  for  months 
that  it  seemed  almost  at  the  point  of  exhaustion, 
when  the  patience  of  Europe  concerning  the  block- 
ade had  been  pushed  to  the  extreme,  and  the 
prominent  inquiry  at  home  and  abroad  was,  "When 
is  this  to  end  ?  what  evidence  is  there  of  conquer- 
ing such  a  foe  ?  where  are  the  Northern  victo- 
ries ? "  that  the  tide  of  doubt  and  disaster  was 
turned  in  favor  of  our  national  forces,  never  to 
change  its  current  till  the  last  vestige  of  insurrec- 
tion had  been  swept  away. 


THE  FIRST  GREAT  VICTORY.  15 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   FIRST    GREAT   VICTORY. 

MANY  will  remember  'well  the  anxiety  of  those 
waiting  for  the  news  on  the  gloomy  night  of  that 
Sunday  when  the  report  came  of  the  taking  of 
Fort  Donelson.  Trie  day  had  been  unusually  de- 
pressing, even  for  that  era  of  suspense  and  long- 
ing. Suddenly  the  operator's  face  shone  as  he 
heard  the  click  of  the  telegraph.  He  read  the 
•despatch  aloud :  "  Fort  Donelson  captured  with 
the  entire  force !  "  Cheers  went  up  from  those 
who  heard  this  announcement ;  for  the  long  cata- 
logue of  Union  defeats  had  reached  its  limit.  How 
the  tidings  flew  !  People  shouted  it  on  the  cars 
and  in  the  streets.  Door-bells  were  rung,  and  to 
the  question,  — 

"  What  is  it  ?  " 

"  Grant  has  captured  Fort  Donelson,"  was  the 
answer. 

"  Any  prisoners  ? " 

"  Seventeen  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
three." 

"Glorious!  That  wipes  out  Bull  Run.  Any 
thing  else  ? " 

"Seventeen  heavy  guns,  forty-eight  field-pieces, 


1 6  ABOUT  GRANT. 

twenty  thousand  small  arms,  three  thousand  horses, 
flags,  and  military  stores." 

"  Hurrah  for  Grant ! "  was  on  every  loyal  tongue. 
And  the  next  morning  the  people  read  in  detail 
that  Grant,  after  taking  Fort  Henry  prior  to  his 
great  victory  at  Donelson,  had  been  instructed  to 
be  very  cautious  in  his  advance ;  to  use  the  con- 
trabands with  pick  and  shovel  in  fortifying  his 
position ;  and  to  feel  his  way  with  the  "  spade " 
with  precaution.  The  people  read  that  Grant,  not 
relishing  fighting  with  the  spade  behind  breast- 
works, and  chafing  under  the  delay,  annoyance,  and 
restraint  of  red  tape,  determined  to  "  move  on  the 
enemy's  works."  They  read  that  Fort  Donelson 
had  been  made  by  the  Confederacy  the  "  strongest 
place  in  that  theatre  of  operation."  Every  thing 
that  military  skill  and  engineering  could  do  for  it 
had  been  done.  To  repel  attack,  the  natural  posi- 
tion was  formidable,  and  all  the  appliances  of  the 
science  of  war  had  been  added.  The  people  read 
that  Grant  closed  in  upon  this  stronghold  on  the 
1 2th  of  February,  1862.  They  read  that  on  the 
next  day  an  attack  by  the  Union  gunboats  had 
proved  a  total  failure,  and  a  premature  assault  on 
the  right  had  been  repulsed  ;  that  on  the  I4th, 
after  a  counsel  of  war  by  the  rebel  chiefs,  a  most 
desperate  attempt  was  made  to  dislodge  the 
national  forces,  and  force  a  way  out  into  the  open 
country.  So  probable  was  the  success  of  this 
movement  at  high  noon  of  the  I4th,  that  Pillow 
sent  the  message,  "  On  the  honor  of  a  soldier,  the 


THE  FIRST  GREAT  VICTORY.  17 

day  is  ours."  Of  this  almost  accomplished  ad- 
verse demonstration,  Grant  knew  nothing  until 
nine  o'clock  of  the  day  it  took  place.  By  request 
of  Admiral  Foote,  he  had  been  in  consultation 
with  that  wounded  officer  at  the  gunboats,  some 
distance  from  his  own  headquarters.  The  inter- 
view over  with  Foote,  on  his  return  he  was  in- 
formed of  the  rebel  sortie,  and  he  immediately 
gave  orders  to  attack  the  rebel  right.  Meeting 
the  troops  already  engaged,  Grant,  as  the  story 
read,  found  them  in  much  disorder  and  badly 
broken  up.  Riding  over  the  field  of  action,  he 
saw  the  knapsacks  of  the  enemy's  dead  packed  with 
several  days'  rations.  With  that  insight  into  the 
minutest  details  which  belongs  to  instinctively 
military  natures,  he  deciphered  the  rebel  intention. 
"  They  are  trying  to  escape.  Armies  don't  come 
out  to  fight  with  three  days'  provisions.  Which- 
ever party  makes  the  attack  will  win  the  day,  and 
the  rebels  will  have  to  move  quickly  to  beat  me," 
said  Grant.  The  command  was  given  to  the  en- 
couraged troops  "  to  advance  along  the  whole  line." 
Foote  was  telegraphed  to  "to  steam  up,  and  to  make 
pretence  of  renewing  attack."  The  ground  and 
guns  lost  in  the  morning  were  recaptured,  and  the 
enemy  was  forced  back.  And,  with  tears  of  joy  fill- 
ing their  loyal  eyes,  the  people  read  of  the  closing 
charge,  in  the  late  afternoon,  that  ploughed  through 
the  abattis,  scaled  the  heights,  and  burst  upon  the 
whole  rebel  line  with  a  force  that  "  nothing  human 
could  resist,"  securing  a  Union  victory  which  the 


l8  ABOUT  GRANT. 

generalship  of  Grant  and  the  bravery  of  his  men 
had  wrested  from  a  nearly  irrevocable  defeat.  And 
as  the  story  concluded  with,  the  record  of  the  rebel 
chieftains  passing  the  night  swapping  the  dignity 
and  honor  of  their  command,  —  Floyd  resigning  to 
Pillow,  and  Pillow  giving  up  to  Buckner,  who  stood 
his  ground  while  the  outranking  generals  slid 
away  under  the  cover  of  darkness,  with  a  brigade 
as  escort,  and  two  steamboats  as  means  of  deliv- 
ery; and  as  the  ringing  words  of  Grant  in  answer 
to  the  condition  of  surrender,  which  have  become 
a  proverb  with  the  nation,  finished  this  full  chapter 
of  glory,  —  the  people  by  the  millions,  who  thus 
read,  hailed  with  joy  the  man  and  the  movement 
which  after  so  many  weary  months  had  given  a 
victory  so  overwhelming  and  important  that  it 
became  the  harbinger  of  ultimate  triumph  for  the 
republic.  It  was  a  victory  of  such  dimensions  as 
to  attract  world-wide  consideration  ;  and  it  settled 
in  the  American  mind  the  fact,  that  a  new  man 
was  on  the  stage,  and  a  new  era  had  begun. 
Flags  waved  from  every  house ;  hymns  were 
chanted  in  every  church ;  and  guns  boomed  from 
deck  and  fort  in  commemoration  of  the  event. 
Press  united  with  pulpit  to  swell  the  chorus  of 
praise.  The  despatch  from  Boston  to  Grant  — 
"That  the  furore  of  jubilation  was  never  equalled 
in  the  memory  of  living  men"  —  expressed  the 
universal  popular  sentiment.  The  lightning  that 
informed  Lincoln  of  the  capture  of  Donelson  bore 
back  the  next  instant  to  its  conqueror  a  commis- 


THE  FIRST  GREAT  VICTORY.  19 

sion  as  major-general  of  volunteers,  showing  the 
correctness  of  Grant's  own  words  addressed  to  his 
soldiers:  "The  men  who  fought  that  battle  will 
live  in  the  memory  of  a  grateful  people." 


20  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  FIRST   RE-ACTION. 

THIS  blow  was  felt  not  only  with  force  upon  the 
fortunes  of  the  Confederacy,  but  had  no  small 
share  in  shaping  diplomatic  action  abroad.  The 
humiliation  of  the  South  was  reflected  in  the  state- 
ment of  Forrest,  a  Southern  general :  "  Grant 
landed  with  a  petty  force  of  fifteen  thousand  men 
in  the  very  centre  of  a  force  of  nearly  forty-five 
thousand  having  the  interior  lines  for  concentra- 
tion and  command,  by  railway  at  that,  and  was 
able  to  take  two  heavy  fortifications  in  detail,  and 
place  hors  de  combat  nearly  fifteen  thousand  of  the 
enemy."  The  effect  of  this  remarkable  victory 
upon  the  North  was  incalculable.  The  bravery  of 
that  section  had  long  been  demonstrated.  The 
willingness  to  give  life  and  treasure  for  the  flag 
had  never  been  in  dispute  from  the  start.  The 
growing  question  was,  "  Is  all  this  sacrifice  of  any 
account  ?  or  are  we  pouring  out  our  life-blood  and 
our  treasure  in  vain  ? "  In  a  single  day  a  victory 
worthy  of  the  most  brilliant  tactician  gave  an 
answer  that  assured  our  destiny.  Europe  was 
compelled  to  forbear  from  wholesale  depreciation 
of  the  Northern  campaign,  and  to  study  the  con- 


THE  FIRST  RE- ACTION.  21 

sequences  of  the  conquest  of  Donelson.  Inspir- 
ing the  loyal  portion  with  a  sense  of  unbounded 
cheer;  staggering  the  enemy  in  his  council  as 
well  as  his  camp ;  furnishing  the  speech  of  the 
common  people  with  new  terms  of  expression  that 
became  a  vernacular  of  victory,  —  this  grand  tri- 
umph brought  the  captor  into  such  prominence, 
that  men  began  to  ask,  "  Has  the  appointed  deliv- 
erer come  ?  "  From  the  sea  to  the  frontier  every 
loyal  household  breathed  with  more  freedom  as 
it  felt  the  tide  at  last  had  turned,  and  was  now 
setting  resistlessly  forward  to  the  supremacy  of 
the  nation  over  its  deadly  assailants. 

With  this  notable  re-action  of  public  sentiment 
towards  the  Union  cause,  the  formidable  emer- 
gency of  protracted  discouragement  was  success- 
fully encountered. 


GRANT    AND    THE    SEVERED    CON- 
FEDERACY. 


"  We  have  collected  an  immense  siege-park.  All  the  world  is  expecting 
us  to  begin,  and  up  to  this  moment  the  guns  are  standing  idle.  It  has 
certainly  damaged  us  with  the  neutral  powers.  The  effect  of  the  success  of 
Sedan  has  been  lessened  quite  enormously  in  consequence."  —  BISMARCK. 

"  It  was  such  as  Montchenu  who  made  the  chief  cause  of  the  Revolution. 
Before  it  such  a  man  as  Bertrand,  who  is  worth  an  army  of  Montchenus, 
could  not  be  a  sous-lieutenant  while  vieux  enfans  like  him  would  be  gen- 
erals. God  help  the  nation  that  is  governed  by  such  1  In  my  time  most  of 
the  generals  of  whose  deeds  France  is  so  proud  sprung  from  that  very 
class  of  plebeians  so  much  despised  by  him."  —  NAPOLEON. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

UNDER   A   CLOUD. 

His  plans  of  battle,  methods  of  operation,  style 
of  communication  with  superiors  and  departments 
to  which  he  was  obliged  to  report,  the  personal 
characteristics  all  so  much  applauded  now,  were 
matters  of  serious  objection  and  denunciation  at 
the  beginning  of  Grant's  career. 

"I  am  going  to  attack  Fort  Donelson  to-mor- 
row." 

"  Do  you  know  how  strong  it  is  ? " 

"  Not  exactly.  But  I  think  I  can  take  it.  At 
all  events  I  can  try." 

This  sounds  well  as  we  scan  the  words ;  but  at 
the  time  it  was  held  to  be  unmilitary,  and  poor 
tactics. 

"  Where  shall  I  find  you  ? " 

"  Probably  at  headquarters.  If  you  don't,  come 
to  the  front  wherever  you  hear  the  heaviest  firing." 

We  thrill  with  patriotic  response  as  we  read 
that  answer  to-day;  but,  when  uttered,  it  was  pro- 
nounced claptrap  and  bravado. 

"  You  are  up  early,  general !  " 

"Yes:  I  got  up  at  two  o'clock,  and  have  been 

25 


26  ABOUT  GRANT. 

working  ever  since,  trying  to  study  out  the  plans 
of  old  Pap  Price." 

We  see  in  this  Incident  the  peculiarities  of  a 
watchful  soldier;  but,  before  Grant's  fame  was 
assured,  such  conversation  was  held  to  be  very 
undignified,  coarse,  and  inexcusable.  Rumors  of 
incapacity,  suspicions  as  to  unquestioned  loyalty, 
damaging  insinuations  both  as  to  habits  and  am- 
bitious designs,  were  not  unfrequent  before  the 
battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing.  A  crushing  blow 
was  intended  to  be  made  by  the  Confederacy  at 
this  place  to  annihilate  Grant  in  his  unintrenched 
position,  and  was  commenced  by  the  Confederate 
generals  with  every  prospect  of  success. 

Adopting  the  "forty  centuries"  air  with  which 
Napoleon  addressed  his  soldiers  at  the  Pyramids, 
Beauregard  said  the  night  before  the  encounter  at 
Pittsburg  Landing,  "Yonder  is  the  camp  of  the 
enemy.  There  we  sleep  to-morrow  night."  The 
secrecy  of  the  Confederate  attack  had  been  so  well 
kept,  that  our  army  was  virtually  caught  napping. 
History  has  it  that  the  first  rebel  shots  surprised 
many  at  breakfast,  some  in  partial  dress,  some 
with  equipments  in  disorder,  but  found  none  ex- 
pecting an  engagement.  Grant  began  to  study 
the  nature  of  the  movement  of  the  enemy  from 
the  firing,  rather  than  to  give  way  to  his  evident 
surprise.  Making  all  preparations  to  hurry  re-en- 
forcements forward,  he  ordered  the  ground  to  be 
held  if  possible  till  succor  should  come.  The 
position  of  our  army  was  excellent,  but  without 


UNDER  A   CLOUD.  27 

other  than  natural  defences.  Sherman  had  the 
key  of  the  position,  and  was  clinging  to  it  with 
the  grip  of  death,  when  Grant  came  up  to  consult 
with  him. 

"  I  fear  we  shall  run  out  of  ammunition,"  said 
Sherman.  "  Oh,"  said  Grant,  "  I  have  provided  for 
that !  "  But,  though  the  ammunition  was  provided 
for,  the  first  day,  with  a  persistency  of  ill  fortune 
that  became  proverbial,  was  a  defeat ;  and  Beaure- 
gard  with  his  rebels  did  sleep  in  the  loyal  camp 
one  night.  The  fighting  had  been  dogged  in  its 
resistance  and  deadly  in  its  results  on  both  sides. 

Victory  seemed  so  sure  for  the  rebels,  that  word 
was  sent,  "We  have  this  morning  attacked  the 
enemy  in  a  strong  position  in  front  of  Pittsburg, 
and  after  a  severe  battle  of  ten  hours,  thanks  to 
Almighty  God,  gained  a  complete  victory,  driving 
the  enemy  from  every  position."  With  Grant  it 
is  always  the  "  home  stretch  "  that  tells.  As  at 
Donelson,  the  rebel  jubilation  was  premature. 
"  We  must  fire  the  first  gun  to-morrow  morning  : 
the  advantage  will  be  with  the  attacking  party," 
was  the  order  of  Grant  for  the  second  day's  fight 
at  Pittsburg.  At  dawn  the  guns  began  to  crack. 
During  the  day  two  hesitating  regiments  were  per- 
sonally rallied  and  Led  into  action  by  Grant.  The 
fighting  was  fiercely  stubborn;  the  generalship 
in  action  masterly.  Re-enforcements  coming  in 
to  settle  the  issue,  the  Confederates  were  driven 
back,  the  ground  was  fully  recovered,  and  the  rebel 
designs  entirely  frustrated.  It  was  a  narrow  escape 


28  ABOUT  GRANT. 

from  what  threatened  to  be  an  extermination  of 
our  army  in  that  locality.  Though  it  did  not  con- 
clude with  the  capture  of  so  much  of  the  enemy 
as  to  utterly  cripple  him,  yet  it  altered  the  whole 
phase  of  the  campaign  in  that  section,  and  was  a 
greater  victory  than  was  conceded  at  the  moment.1 
Because  unintrenched,  Grant  was  bitterly  as- 
sailed in  military  circles.  Said  Turenne,  "When  a 
man  has  committed  no  faults  in  war,  he  could  only 
have  been  engaged  in  it  a  short  time."  So  far  as 
military  science,  through  its  books  and  precedents 
taught,  the  battles  of  Donelson  and  Pittsburg,  as 
battles,  were  at  fault  in  many  particulars.  That 
of  Donelson  was  big  with  risks.  To  boldly  under- 
take an  assault  upon  a  strong  natural  fortification 
that  was  aided  by  great  military  preparation,  with 
less  troops  to  attack  than  there  were  inside  for 
defence,  was  in  violation  of  every  example  and  ad- 
vice in  war.  The  battle  was  fought  because  Grant 
believed  the  Confederate  officers  in  command  were 

l  Nothing  in  the  literature  of  war  could  be  more  ridiculous  than  Beau- 
regard's  letter,  sent  by  flag  of  truce,  asking  permission  to  bury  the  Confed- 
erate dead  at  this  battle  :  "At  the  close  of  the  conflict  yesterday,  my 
forces  being  so  exhausted  by  the  extraordinary  length  of  time  during  which 
they  were  engaged  with  yours  on  that  and  the  previous  day,  and  it  being 
apparent  that  you  had  received  and  were  still  receiving  re-enforcements,  / 
felt  it  -was  my  duty  to  withdraw  my  troops  from  the  immediate  scene  of 
conflict!  "  Another  specimen  of  rebel  war  gasconade  is  the  following  from 
the  same  source  :  "  Soldiers  of  Shiloh  and  Elkton,  we  are  about  to  meet 
once  more  in  the  shock  of  battle  the  invaders  of  our  soil.  .  .  .  Let  the 
impending  battle  decide  our  fate,  and  add  a  more  illustrious  page  to  the 
history  of  our  revolution,  —  one  to  which  your  children  will  point  with 
noble  pride,  saying,  '  Our  fathers  -were  at  the  battle  of  Corinth?  "  After 
this  bulletin,  his  army  quietly  packed  up,  and  sneaked  away  without  a  shot. 


UNDER  A   CLOUD.  29 

incapable,  and  because  he  thought  that  quickness 
of  movement  would  outweigh  every  advantage 
against  him.  Said  Buckner,  after  the  surrender, 
"  Had  I  commanded,  you  would  not  have  reached 
the  fort  so  easily."  —  "  If  you  had,"  replied  Grant, 
"  I  should  have  waited  for  re-enforcements  ;  but  I 
knew  Pillow  would  never  come  out  of  his  works  to 
fight."  The  judgment  of  Grant  proved  correct, 
and  the  plan  of  battle  was  justified  by  success. 
In  both  actions  the  main  principles  guiding  Grant 
were,  "  Having  assumed  the  offensive,  to  maintain 
it  at  all  hazards ; "  "  To  take  every  precaution 
possible  for  full  support  of  all  under  command ; " 
"Begin  the  fighting  ;  "  and  "Never  to  scare."  How- 
ever erroneous  in  other  respects,  these  tactics  were 
true  to  those  laws,  and  were  won  under  them  ;  but 
they  ended  in  bringing  Grant  into  temporary  re- 
tirement and  discredit.  The  scandal-mongers  were 
again  at  their  despicable  work.  Envy,  malice,  man- 
agement, had  full  sway ;  and,  under  pretence  of 
promotion,  Grant  was  for  a  season  in  reality  ta- 
booed and  ignored,  till  after  his  superiors  found  by 
the  evacuation  of  Corinth  that  he  had  at  Pittsburg 
Landing  won  the  entire  field  in  that  section.  Sit- 
ting idly  in  his  tent,  instead  of  being  with  his 
command  in  active  service,  he  wrote  to  his  father, 
"  I  will  go  on  and  do  my  duty  to  the  very  best  of 
my  ability,  and  do  all  I  can  to  bring  the  war  to  a 
speedy  close.  I  am  not  an  aspirant  for  any  thing 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  .  .  .  One  Idling  I  am  well 
aware  of  :  I  have  the  confidence  of  every  man  in 


30  ABOUT  GRANT. 

my  command."  Some  of  the  "  on-to-Richmond  " 
papers  of  that  period,  like  the  independent  press 
of  this,  under  the  impression  that  the  true  way  to 
beat  your  worst  enemies  is  to  vilify  your  best 
friends,  hounded  Grant  incessantly. 

Mortified  and  wounded  at  his  treatment  from 
the  papers  and  from  those  over  him,  Grant  was 
forced  to  demand  relief  from  his  equivocal  relation 
to  the  army  ;  and  he  said  in  a  letter,  "  I  am  not 
going  to  lay  off  my  shoulder-straps  until  the  close 
of  the  war  ;  but  I  should  like  to  go  to  New  Mexico, 
or  some  other  remote  place,  and  have  a  small 
command  out  of  reach  of  the  newspapers."  Hal- 
leek,  who  had  been  to  the  front  while  Grant  was 
reduced  to  inaction  in  his  tent,  —  after  his  eyes 
were  open  to  the  superior  military  wisdom  of  the 
shelved  officer  by  the  extensive  manner  in  which 
he  had  been  fooled,  through  the  enemy's  move- 
ments at/Corinth,  in  finding  a  barren  town  where 
he  had  planned  to  bag  an  army, — acknowledged 
his  mistake  as  to  the  importance  of  the  battle  of 
Pittsburg  Landing.  The  country,  seeing  a  new 
and  alarming  emergency  before  it  in  the  neces- 
sity to  counteract  the  succession  of  delays  and 
disasters  in  other  points,  ordered  the  re-instate- 
ment  of  Grant  on  the  summoning  of  Halleck  to 
Washington.  He  had  often  expressed  his  willing- 
ness to  serve  under  Sherman  with  the  same  readi- 
ness as  to  have  Sherman  serve  under  him  ;  but 
he  felt  his  compulsory,  and  to  him  humiliating, 
retirement  deeply. 


UttDER  A    CLOUD.  31 

He  also  saw  with  regret  the  needless  postpone- 
ment of  a  vigorous  campaign,  and  prolongation 
of  movements  in  a  rebellious  region,  which  a 
change  of  command  forced  upon  the  country. 
One  of  the  biographers  of  Grant  remarks,  "  It 
is  pleasant  to  record,  that  always  after  going  to 
Washington,  as  if  in  atonement  for  his  former 
ungraciousness,  Halleck  gave  to  Grant  hearty  and 
entire  support."  The  same  historian  observes,  in 
connection  with  this  unpleasant  experience,  that 
"Grant  felt  keenly  the  newspaper  denunciation 
of  which  he  had  been  the  victim,  but  very  seldom 
alluded  to  it.  Once  he  said  to  a  Cincinnati  cor- 
respondent, — 

"  '  Your  paper  has  made  many  false  statements 
about  me,  and,  I  presume,  will  continue  to  do  so. 
Go  on  in  that  way  if  you  like ;  but  it  is  hard  treat- 
ment for  a  man  trying  to  do  his  duty  in  the  field. 
I  am  willing  to  be  judged  by  my  acts,  but  not  to 
have  them  misrepresented  or  falsified.' ' 

It  is  possible  to  imagine  how  these  insults  and 
suspicions  rankled  in  the  brave  soul  that  endured 
them  all,  and  never  in  the  height  of  his  power  re- 
membered these  acts  against  their  perpetrators  ; 
but  it  can  never  be  known  how  much  it  cost  this 
country  to  fight  on  the  most  approved  principles 
of  engineering,  or  to  pursue  the  supercilious 
methods  of  the  martinets  who  sometimes  hold 
the  destinies  of  nations. 


32  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A   BLOW   THAT  TOLD. 

IN  March,  1863,  three  officers  stood  together 
one  midnight,  watching  strange  incidents  about 
Port  Hudson.  They  made  part  of  the  advance 
which  was  to  co-operate  with  Farragut  in  his  at- 
tempt to  pass  fortifications  that  Jefferson  Davis 
shortly  before,«after  personal  examination,  had  pro- 
nounced "impregnable."  The  formidable  bluffs, 
commanding  the  river  for  miles  in  either  direction, 
were  amply  supplied  with  the  best  armament  for 
defence.  Against  the  fearful  fire  of  these  powerful 
batteries,  Farragut  was  at  that  moment  "  running 
the  gauntlet."  The  land  forces  were  in  the  rear 
of  Port  Hudson,  there  to  divert  the  enemy,  and 
draw  a  portion  of  the  garrison  from  operating 
against  the  fleet.  The  precise  object  of  the  ex- 
pedition no  one  of  the  three  knew,  although 
hearsay  gave  it  that  it  was  in  connection  with 
Grant's  movements  above.  One  of  the  officers 
in  this  group  had  served  with  Grant  in  Oregon, 
and  the  conversation  naturally  turned  upon  him. 

It  was  an  extraordinary  scene :  the  air  roared 
with  the  rush  of  bombs ;  the  earth  trembled 
under  the  fierce,  incessant  cannonade ;  the  heav- 


A   BLOW  THAT  TOLD.  33 

ens  were  filled  with  curves  of  light  from  busy 
shells ;  when  an  explosion  shook  the  ground  for 
miles,  and  made  the  air  alive  with  conflagration. 

One  of  the  officers  exclaimed,  "  If  the  Lord  will 
let  me  live  just  long  enough  to  find  what  all  this 
is,  and  what  it  is  about,  I  shall  die  happy." 

Morning  brought  word  that  Farragut,  after  a 
most  terrible  damage  to  his  fleet,  including  the  de- 
struction of  the  large  steamer  "  Mississippi "  by  the 
firing  of  her  magazine,  and  with  much  loss  of  life, 
had  passed  the  guns  of  the  enemy,  and  was  on  his 
way  up  the  river  to  communicate  with  Grant.  It 
was  the  "beginning  of  the  end  ;  "  and  what  Grant's 
colleague  said,  in  giving  an  estimate  of  him,  proved 
true  :  "  I  don't  know  what  he  is  up  to  ;  but  he  al- 
ways pulls  through,  and  he  will  come  out  right." 
Whoever  has  seen  that  area  of  rank,  monotonous 
desolation  along  the  borders  of  the  Lower  Missis- 
sippi, traversed  by  sluggish  gullies,  overspread 
with  trackless  and  treacherous  lowlands,  the  para- 
dise of  the  centipede,  alligator,  and  mosquito,  and 
the  terror  of  living  men,  will  understand  why 
Grant  made  seven  abortive  attempts  upon  Vicks- 
burg  on  the  upper  side. 

A  writer  says,  "The  swamps,  forests,  jungles, 
bayous,  and  rivers  of  this  remarkable  region  are 
the  most  perfect  defence  that  could  be  devised  for 
important  points  situated  on  the  highlands  which 
lie  beyond  them.  To  the  army  operating  along 
the  main  river  they  proved  to  be  a  perfect  barrier ; 
for,  although  they  were  frequently  penetrated,  it 


34  ABOUT  GRANT. 

was  always  with  such  great  labor  and  loss  of  time, 
that  the  rebels,  moving  by  rail  or  along  the  better 
roads  of  the  highlands,  were  enabled  to  meet  our 
forces  in  superior  strength,  or  to  block  their  way 
by  impassable  fortifications." 

A  friend,  calling  one  evening,  found  Grant  alone 
in  his  office, — the  ladies'  cabin  of  "The  Magnolia." 
He  said,  — 

"  The  problem  is  a  difficult  one,  but  I  shall  cer- 
tainly solve  it:  Vicksburg  can  be  taken.  I  shall 
give  my  days  and  nights  to  it,  and  shall  surely  take 

it." 

Richardson  says  of  the  plan  to  pass  the  bat- 
teries, "  It  was  no  sudden  inspiration.  For 
months  the  general  had  thought  of  it  as  a  last 
resort.  When  he  and  the  staff,  three  months 
earlier,  first  visited  the  Williams  Cut-off,  Rawlins, 
after  contemplating  the  tiny  rill  which  trickled 
through  it,  exclaimed,  'What's  the  use  of  a  canal, 
unless  it  can  be  dug  at  least  fifty  feet  deeper? 
This  ditch  will  never  wash  out  large  enough  in 
all  the  ages  to  admit  our  steamboats.'  Two  days 
later,  at  headquarters,  when  several  generals  and 
engineers  were  considering  plans,  the  staff-officer 
again  remarked,  'Wilson  and  I  have  a  project  of 
our  own  for  taking  Vicksburg.'  —  'What  is  it?' 
asked  Sherman.  '  Why,  not  to  dig  a  ditch,  but  to 
use  the  great  one  already  dug  by  Nature,  —  the 
Mississippi  River;  protect  our  transports  with 
cotton-bales,  run  them  by  the  batteries  at  night, 
and  march  the  men  down  the  Louisiana  shore, 
ready  to  be  ferried  across.'  " 


A   BLOW  THAT  TOLD.  35 

The  entire  fleet  passed  the  Vicksburg  batteries 
in  April,  transporting  the  army  below  to  operate 
upon  the  city  from  the  south.  At  the  time  when 
the  country  had  become  heart-sick  of  unavailing 
efforts  at  "fancy"  engineering,  and  of  men 
mowed  down  by  the  thousand  with  pestilential 
fevers,  and  about  repulses  at  Holly  Springs  and 
Chickasaw  Bayou  and  Yazoo  Pass  and  Miliken's 
Bend,  till  the  courage  of  the  land  began  to  fail, 
and  Grant's  enemies  began  to  insinuate,  "  You 
see  he's  going  to  fizzle  out  like  all  the  rest," 
by  a  sudden  desperate  and  unprecedented  move, 
he  again  lifted  the  people  out  of  despondency,  and 
was  once  more,  after  being  for  months  the  public 
scapegoat,  instantly  elevated  to  the  position  of  a 
public  idol.  Obtaining  valuable  information  as  to 
roads  and  ground  from  the  faithful  negroes,  he 
started  for  his  objective  point  to  bag  Pemberton. 
On  he  went,  "whipping  the  rebels  beautifully  at 
every  step,"  —  on  to  the  Big  Black,  after  taking 
Grand  Gulf  and  Port  Gibson.  Finding  himself 
between  two  wings  of  the  army,  —  "  Pemberton  in 
Vicksburg  with  fifty  thousand  men  on  his  left," 
and  the  rebels  collecting  on  the  right  in  unknown 
numbers,  —  in  order  to  prevent  a  union  of  their 
forces,  he  resolved  to  cut  loose  from  his  base  ;  and 
giving  notice,  "  I  shall  communicate  with  Grand 
Gulf  no  more,  except  as  it  becomes  necessary  to 
send  trains  under  heavy  escort ;  you  may  not  hear 
from  me  for  several  days,"  he  took  a  leap  forward 
without  consultation  with  his  superiors,  and  prob- 


36  ABOUT  GRANT. 

ably  against  the  judgment  of  a  vast  majority  of 
military  men ;  certainly  in  spite  of  the  fears  and 
remonstrance  of  those  who  fought  our  battles  in 
the  war-office  at  the  Capitol.  The  suspense  of  the 
nation  for  the  next  few  days  was  intense.  Millions 
of  those  now  living  were  then  unborn  ;  and  many 
who  passed  through  this  period  of  anxiety  and 
waiting  have  forgotten  the  tension  of  expectation 
which  made  these  harrowing  days  eventful  with 
mingled  hope  and  fear.  Grant  and  his  army  had 
disappeared  from  public  view.  Would  it  be 
ruined,  or  come  forth  regnant  with  glory,  was 
the  question  ?  It  was  a  crisis  on  which  hung  the 
fate  of  the  republic :  and  when  the  intelligence 
came,  that  Johnston  had  been  outmarched  by  the 
celerity  of  Grant,  and  that  Jackson  had  been  oc- 
cupied and  destroyed  as  a  military  depot  for  the 
enemy  ;  and  that  the  most  important  railway  com- 
munications with  Pemberton  were  utterly  ruined, 
and  conjunction  with  the  fleet  above  Vicksburg 
secured,  and  Pemberton,  by  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful series  of  combinations  and  strategy  known 
in  war,  hemmed  in  behind  his  works ;  and  when 
the  account  came  of  the  battle  of  Champion  Hills, 
named  by  its  awful  sacrifice  of  brave  men  "the 
Hill  of  Death,"  —  the  great,  beating,  loyal  heart 
of  the  country  was  rilled  with  the  commingled  emo- 
tions of  astonishment,  admiration,  and  love  for  the 
soldier  who  seemed  capable  of  every  thing  but  the 
miraculous. 

During  the   battle  of   Champion   Hills,  Grant 


A  BLOW  THAT  TOLD.  37 

received  from  the  bureau  at  Washington  an  order 
to  make  junction  with  the  forces  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Gulf  before  moving  on  Vicksburg.  It 
was  too  late.  The  work  had  been  done  ;  and  Pem- 
berton's  beaten  army  was  pouring  back  into  its 
defences,  only  to  be  helplessly  trapped  and  cor- 
ralled. "  Until  this  moment  I  have  never  thought 
that  your  expedition  would  be  a  success.  I  never 
could  see  the  end  clearly ;  but  this  is  a  campaign," 
said  the  ablest  officer  next  to  Grant  in  the  army. 
Vicksburg  was  encircled  from  the  river  above  to  the 
river  below  ;  and  so  accurate  had  been  Grant's  cal- 
culations, that  the  investment  was  consummated  in 
exact  accordance  with  his  arrangements.  Fronde 
describes  Julius  Caesar  returning  from  a  campaign 
in  "  the  light  of  twenty  victories."  If  history  can 
be  depended  upon,  "  Grant's  operations  since  leav- 
ing New  Carthage  had  rarely  been  equalled  by  the 
most  illustrious  captains  of  history." 

"  In  twenty  days  he  had  marched  two  hundred 
miles,  and  fought  five  battles  ;  taking  ninety  guns, 
capturing  six  thousand  of  the  enemy,  and  killing 
and  wounding  many  more.  He  had  destroyed 
Pemberton's  communication,  stopped  him  from 
escaping,  and  finally  driven  him  to  the  wall.  And 
his  total  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing, 
footed  up  only  four  thousand." 

And  now  Grant  was  compelled  to  resort  to  what 
had  been  the  main  weapon  of  some  of  the  leading 
generals  of  the  army, — the  spade.  With  it  he 
made  a  line  of  circumvallation  to  protect  his  rear, 


38  ABOUT  GRANT. 

and  with  it  he  began  to  mine  the  rebel  works  that 
two  assaults  had  failed  to  carry.  But  famine  be- 
gan to  smite  the  doomed  city,  and  the  direct 
horrors  of  war  were  felt  in  the  besieged  enclosure. 
Hunger,  disease,  poison  by  malaria,  death,  revelled 
in  that  forlorn  domain.  The  days  dragged  on,  — 
dismay  within  ;  slow  and  tireless  digging  without. 

"  When  do  you  expect  to  take  Vicksburg  ? " 
tauntingly  asked  a  female  rebel. 

"  I  can't  tell  exactly,"  said  Grant ;  "  but  I  shall 
stay  till  I  do,  if  it  takes  thirty  years." 

An  intercepted  letter  contained  these  words  :  — 

"  We  put  our  trust  in  the  Lord.  .  .  .  We  ex- 
pect Joe  Johnston  to  come  to  our  relief." 

On  reading  this,  Grant  gave  orders  to  march  a 
portion  of  his  army,  saying  to  the  leader,  "  They 
seem  to  put  a  good  deal  of  trust  in  the  Lord  and 
Joe  Johnston  ;  but  you  must  whip  Johnston  fifteen 
miles  from  here." 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1863,  the  "old  flag"  floated 
over  Vicksburg.  Rhetoric  has  no  capacity  of  elo- 
quence equal  to  the  mere  statement  that  the 
"  Stars  and  stripes  "  waved  over  the  Gibraltar  of 
the  Confederacy;  and  words  can  add  nothing  to 
the  condensed  record  of  the  historian  :  — 

"  In  the  capitulation  Grant  received  fifteen  gen- 
erals, thirty-one  thousand  six  hundred  soldiers, 
and  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  cannon,  —  the 
greatest  capture  of  men  and  armament  ever  made 
at  one  time  since  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  if 
not  since  the  creation.  Adding  prisoners  pre- 


A   BLOW  THAT  TOLD.  39 

viously  taken,  his  captures  since  the  ist  of  May 
were  swelled  to  forty-two  thousand  and  fifty-nine 
men." 

Thirty  millions  of  loyal  people  thanked  God  in 
earnest  prayer  that  His  almighty  wisdom  had 
given  us  such  a  victory,  and  a  military  leader  great 
enough  to  surmount  every  peril  with  which  he 
had  grappled. 


40  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WHAT   VICKSBURG    SETTLED. 

GRANT  once  wrote  to  his  father,  "The  govern- 
ment asks  a  good  deal  of  me,  but  not  more  than 
I  feel  fully  able  to  perform."  Vicksburg  settled 
that  the  country  could  put  no  load  upon  Grant 
that  he  could  not  lift.  As  Donelson  settled  it 
beyond  controversy  that  the  early  boast  of  martial 
superiority  on  the  part  of  the  South  was  "as 
sounding  brass  an,d  a  tinkling  cymbal,"  so  Vicks- 
burg settled  several  weighty  matters  that  only 
successful  battle  could  determine.  It  hopelessly 
divided  the  area  of  rebellion.  The  "lordly  Mis- 
sissippi "  was  in  loyal  control,  never  again  to  be 
wrested  from  us.  The  granary  of  the  rebel  army, 
the  source  from  which  its  sustenance  was  mainly 
drawn,  was  sealed  against  it.  With  the  Atlantic 
coast  blockaded,  and  the  rich  pastures  and1  store- 
houses of  the  trans-Mississippi  closed,  the  Con- 
federacy itself  was  in  a  state  of  siege ;  and,  with- 
out foreign  intervention,  its  downfall  was  but  a 
question  of  time.  The  Confederacy  was  severed, 
never  to  be  rejoined.  Vicksburg  vindicated  the 
policy  of  emancipation,  and  added  the  mighty 
power  of  moral  greatness  to  the  war. 


WHAT  VICKSBURG  SETTLED.  41 

This  victory  had  justified  the  absorption  into 
loyal  ranks  of  a  race  that  by  the  magic  of  en- 
franchisement was  rising  in  the  scale  of  human 
dignity.  It  welcomed  from  the  fields  of  the 
South  the  black  hands  that,  unpaid,  tilled  the  soil, 
owned  as  they  were  by  human  masters,  and  placed 
within  those  swarthy  hands  muskets  that  were  to 
establish  their  fitness  for  freedom  and  their  title 
to  manhood.  By  our  thus  proclaiming  liberty 
universal,  and  identifying  the  cause  of  loyalty 
with  the  cause  of  •  religion  and  humanity,  the 
malicious  spirit  of  our  enemies  and  the  vacillating 
spirit  of  our  questionable  friends  in  England  were 
alike  rebuked,  and  our  cause  was  strengthened 
throughout  the  world.1 

The  lofty  spirit  of  devotion  to  just  principles  of 
government  which  guided  the  pen  of  Milton,  and 
animated  the  tongue  of  Hampden,  in  the  days  of 

"  i  Adjutant-Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas  now  came  from  Washington  to 
organize  negro  regiments.  Grant  had  already  paved  the  way  for  this  in 
obedience  to  the  President's  wish  that  commanders  should  help  remove 
the  prejudices  of  our  white  troops  against  them.  He  had  issued  an  order 
adding  three  hundred  contrabands  to  the  pioneer  corps  of  each  division^ 

"  Grant  did  nothing  in  a  half-hearted  way,  but  entered  zealously  into 
the  movement,  and  reported  to  Halleck,  — 

"  '  At  least  three  of  my  corps  commanders  take  hold  of  the  new  policy 
of  arming  the  negroes,  and  using  them  against  the  enemy,  with  a  will. 
They  at  least  are  so  much  of  soldiers  as  to  feel  themselves  under  obliga- 
tions to  carr.y  out  a  policy  which  they  would  not  inaugurate  in  the  same 
good  faith  and  with  the  same  zeal  as  if  it  were  of  their  own  choosing. 
You  may  rely  on  my  carrying  out  any  policy  ordered  by  proper  authority 
to  the  best  of  my  ability.'  " 

This  extract  shows  what  an  important  influence  on  this  question  came 
out  of  the  necessities  of  Vicksburg. 


42  ABOUT  GRANT. 

the  Commonwealth ;  the  sublime  sentiment  which 
found  echo  in  all  true  English  hearts,  that  the  air 
of  England  was  too  pure  for  any  slave  to  breathe, 
—  aroused  Englishmen  in  1863  to  resist  the  efforts 
of  British  toryism  and  British  selfishness  to  inter- 
fere for  Southern  benefit.  The  fall  of  Vicksburg 
insured  the  final  extinction  of  the  slave-owners' 
empire,  and  linked  together  the  triumph  of  the 
American  flag  and  the  full  freedom  of  the  Ameri- 
can slave.  A  sympathetic  spirit  was  awakened  in 
the  mother-country,  and  smote  down  with  right- 
eous indignation  all  efforts  to  break  the  embargo 
on  Southern  ports.  It  was  no  trifling  contribution 
to  the  national  cause  that  Grant  at  Vicksburg 
settled  forever  the  likelihood  of  foreign  intermed- 
dling with  the  blockade.  We  cannot  wonder,  then, 
that  "  Grant  became  henceforth  the  central  figure 
in  our  military  history,"  or  that  "the  country  hailed 
him  with  unfeigned  delight  and  sincerity  as  the 
only  general  who  was  always  successful." 

Lincoln  wrote  him,  "  When  you  turned  north- 
ward, east  of  Big  Black,  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake. 
I  now  wish  to  make  a  personal  acknowledgment 
that  you  were  right,  and  I  was  wrong." 

Amid  all  the  congratulations  and  honors  that 
crowded  upon  him  as  hero  of  Vicksburg,  Grant 
maintained  a  quiet,  simple,  unostentatious  dignity. 
Declining  a  public  ovation  tendered  him,  he  con- 
cluded his  letter  with  the  patriotic  sentiment,  "The 
stability  of  this  government  and  the  unity  of  this 
nation  depend  solely  on  the  cordial  support  and 
earnest  loyalty  of  the  people." 


WHAT  VICKSBURG  SETTLED.  43 

Of  all  men,  living  or  dead,  who  have  ever  con- 
tributed by  their  acts  to  uphold  the  unity  and  sta- 
bility now  represented  by  our  invincible  flag,  none 
ever  did  more  than  Grant  by  the  capture  of  Vicks- 
burg.  Placing  on  sure  ground  the  non-interven- 
tion of  Europe,  vindicating  the  hallowed  policy  of 
human  freedom,  raising  up  the  bond  race,  unfet- 
tering the  Father  of  Waters,  and  giving  it  back  to 
interstate  commerce,  it  made  certain  to  the  calcu- 
lation of  the  world  that  the  national  flag  would 
yet  wave  for  a  country  stronger  than  when  the 
eagles  of  Rome  soared  from  the  "  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules to  the  walls  of  Antoninus." 


GRANT  AND  THE  SAVING  OF  THE 
x  BORDER. 


11  The  principle  by  which  my  conduct  has  been  actuated  through  life 
would  not  suffer  me  in  any  great  emergency  to  withhold  any  services  I 
could  render  required  by  my  country,  especially  in  a  case  where  its  dearest 
rights  are  assailed  by  lawless  ambition  and  intoxicated  power."  —  WASH- 
INGTON'S Acceptance  of  the  Commission  of  Lieutenant-General. 

"  I  accept  the  commission  with  gratitude  for  the  high  honor  conferred 
with  the  aid  of  the  noble  armies  that  have  fought  in  so  many  battle-fields 
for  our  common  country.  It  will  be  my  earnest  endeavor  not  to  disap- 
point your  expectations.  I  feel  the  full  weight  of  the  responsibilities  now 
devolving  upon  me ;  and  I  know,  if  they  are  met,  it  will  be  due  to  those 
armies,  and  above  all  to  the  favor  of  that  Providence  which  leads  both 
nations  and  men."  —  GRANT'S  Speech  on  receiving  Commission  as  Lieu- 
tenant-General . 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CLOSING   THE   GAPS. 

"  I  MUCH  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you  have  aided  to  in- 
fuse into  the  army,  of  criticising  their  commander  and 
withdrawing  confidence  from  him,  will  now  turn  upon  you. 
I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put  it  down.  Neither 
you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again,  could  get  any  good 
out  of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it.  And  now 
beware  of  rashness !  Beware  of  rashness  !  but,  with  ener- 
gy and  sleepless  vigilance,  go  forward,  and  give  us  victories. 
"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  A.  LINCOLN." 

This  letter  from  Abraham  Lincoln  was  written 
to  a  distinguished  general  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  No  such  caution  was 
needed  in  Grant's  case.  He  had  little  talk  with 
regard  to  his  own  or  another's  military  operations. 

"  What  shall  I  say  to  our  people,  when  I  return 
home,  about  the  presidency  ?  "  asked  one  of  those 
frisky  politicians  who  consider  their  utterances  as 
very  important. 

"  Say  nothing.  I  want  nothing  whatever  said," 
was  the  reply  of  Grant ;  and  the  same  reticence 
marked  him  in  all  affairs.  A  commission  as 
major-general  in  the  regular  army,  personal  letters 

47 


48  ABOUT  GRANT. 

of  thanks  from  the  chief  magistrate  an,d  the  prin- 
cipal military  and  civil  dignitaries,  congressional 
and  State  honors,  public  eulogiums,  presentations 
of  swords  from  enthusiastic  admirers,  indicated  that 
Grant  now,  as  Washington  before  him,  stood  first 
in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  The  defeat  of 
our  army  at  Chickamauga  —  at  times  threatening 
to  repeat  the  holocaust  at  Stone  River — had  so 
alarmed  government,  that  Grant  was  summoned  to 
grapple  with  a  new  emergency.  The  gaps  through 
which  invading  bands  of  guerillas  could  break  and 
overrun  the  adjacent  loyal  districts,  and  the  pre- 
carious tenure  by  which  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant military  positions  in  the  border  States  were 
held,  gave  rise  to  much  apprehension  in  their  im- 
mediate localities,  and  general  dissatisfaction  every- 
where. To  close  these  dangerous  gaps,  and  dis- 
lodge the  enemy  from  the  border  line,  was  the 
exigency  now  before  Grant.  The  consolidation  of 
all  forces  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  west  of  the 
Alleghanies  placed  two  hundred  thousand  men 
at  his  disposal.  His  first  business  was  to  secure 
Chattanooga  and  relieve  Burnside,  now  in  an  ex- 
ceedingly embarrassing  situation  in  Knoxville. 
At  Chattanooga  was  an  ill-supplied  army,  crowded 
within  a  small  space,  with  Burnside  two  hundred 
miles  away  in  one  direction.,  and  Sherman  far  dis- 
tant in  an  opposite  direction.  Placing  Thomas  in 
the  position  of  the  commander  lately  so  disastrously 
defeated,  Grant's  orders  were,  — 
"  Hold  Chattanooga  at  all  hazards." 


CLOSING    THE   GAPS.  49 

"  I  will,  or  starve,"  was  the  answer. 

Grant  arrived  at  Chattanooga  in  October,  1863. 
Missionary  Ridge,  three  miles  away,  covered  the 
place.  The  rebels  outnumbered  Grant,  and  were 
in  the  full  flush  of  a  late  victory.  Hills  in  front,  a 
river  at  their  back,  rescue  or  escape  alike  improba- 
ble, — such  was  the  deplorable  state  in  which  Grant 
found  his  cooped-up  army  at  Chattanooga.  His 
forces  under  Hooker,  as  usual  in  advance,  had 
seized  the  most  commanding  situation,  which  held 
fast  the  railroad  communicating  with  the  supplies. 
This  sharp,  quick  action  put  Bragg  on  the  defen- 
sive, and  gave  Grant  an  opportunity  for  aggressive 
movement.  The  former  had  sent  Longstreet  to 
attack  Burnside.  "  Lose  most  of  your  army  be- 
fore retreating :  hold  the  line  from  Knoxville  to 
Clinton  seven  days,  and  the  Tennessee  Valley  can 
be  saved,"  was  the  message  sent  to  Burnside. 
Then  Grant  concluded  to  save  Knoxville  by  fight- 
ing Bragg.  The  only  defence  Grant  believed  in 
was  attack.  There  were  few  darker  days  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  struggle  than  these  before  Chattanooga. 
Grant,  however,  had  faith  that  Burnside  would 
hold  on,  and  that  Sherman  would  make  connection 
in  time.  In  both  opinions  he  was  correct.  The 
gallant  fighting  and  the  glorious  victories  at  Look- 
out Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge  are  too  famil- 
iar to  need  description  here.  The  battle  of  Chat- 
tanooga is  regarded  as  a  most  remarkable  military 
contest.  Such  was  the  strength  of  the  enemy's 
position,  that  Grant  said,  "A  line  of  skirmishers 


50  ABOUT  GRANT. 

properly  handled  should  have  held  it."  The  field 
of  operation  was  an  amphitheatre,  and  in  all  prob- 
ability ''no  battle  was  ever  fought  more  completely 
under  the  eye  of  the  commander."  As  one  histo- 
rian says,  "  Hooker  drew  attention  to  the  right. 
Sherman  compelled  the  enemy  to  mass  just  as  had 
been  designed,  and  Thomas  was  made  to  attack 
the  centre  at  the  critical  moment ;  and  more  than 
the  results  hoped  for  were  accomplished.  Armies 
were  moved  to  fight  this  battle  from  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Potomac,  and  came  upon  time ; 
mountains  were  climbed ;  rivers  bridged  and 
crossed  under  fire ;  ridges  scaled,  though  held  by 
hostile  armies ;  and  the  enemy  himself  took  his 
part  in  the  plan  exactly  as  had  been  foreseen,  as 
if  he  had  been  under  the  orders  of  Grant."  It 
sent  Bragg  flying  in  retreat,  and  was  the  last  heard 
of  him.  It  closed  every  avenue  then  open  to  in- 
vasion, shut  up  the  "last  gap,"  and  delivered  the 
border  from  danger  by  raising  the  siege  of  Knox- 
ville,  and,  relieving  the  hard-pressed  forces  of  Burn- 
side,  drove  the  last  hostile  flag  in  that  vast  section 
forever  beyond  the  sight  of  loyalty.  Recognizing 
that  he  had  gone  on  in  an  unbroken  march  of  tri- 
umph from  the  first  great  national  victory  at 
Donelson  ;  had  liberated  the  great  inland  highway 
of  waters  and  all  its  important  tributaries  ;  and 
had  annihilated  three  separate  rebel  armies,  —  the 
nation  demanded  that  Grant  should  be  raised  to 
the  chief  command  with  a  military  title  never 
given  by  the  republic  but  to  one,  "  and  that  one, 


CLOSIA'G   THE   GAPS.  51 

Washington."  Grant  was  esteemed  by  his  grate- 
ful countrymen  the  only  soldier  worthy  to  bear  for 
the  second  time  the  honors  of  Lieutenant-General 
of  the  Armies  of  the  United  States. 


52  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   FIRE   IN   THE    REAR. 

IT  was  said  by  an  influential  Northern  Demo- 
cratic paper,  "If  troops  shall  be  raised  in  the  North 
to  march  against  the  people  of  the  South,  afire  in 
the  rear  will  be  opened  on  such  troops,  which  will 
either  stop  their  march  altogether  or  wonderfully 
accelerate  it."  Later  this  treasonable  "fire  in  the 
rear"  came.  The  rebellion  would  never  have 
touched  the  point  of  armed  resistance,  but  for  the 
expectation  of  sufficient  Democratic  support  to 
forbid  actual  war.  The  doctrine  of  State  rights, 
the  corner-stone  of  American  Democracy,  led 
legitimately  to  the  principle  of  ultimate  supremacy 
in  local  government.  Secession  was  the  logical 
result  of  the  theory  that  final  authority  was  with 
the  State.  If  the  Democratic  school  was  constitu- 
tionally correct  in  holding  that  the  dissolution  of 
government  was  in  the  hands  of  a  section  rather 
than  of  the  nation,  —  if  a  part  could  break  up  the 
whole, — then  every  shot  fired  by  the  South  was 
right,  and  every  shot  sent  back  by  the  North  was 
wrong.  The  sole  difference  between  the  Northern 
and  the  Southern  Democrat  was,  the  one  had  the 
courage  to  fight  for  his  convictions  ;  the  other 


THE  FIRE  IN  THE  REAR.  53 

had  not.  The  South's  glaring  mistake  was  in 
trusting  the  pledges,  and  relying  on  the  co-opera- 
tion, of  Northern  Democracy.  When  it  came  to 
the  pinch,  the  Northern  end  gave  out.  The  action 
of  the  South  was  honorable  and  pure  in  compari- 
son with  the  craven  behavior  of  its  allies  in  the 
North.  The  peace  men  in  the  loyal  States  were 
poltroons  as  well  as  traitors.  The  South  risked 
lives  and  property  for  an  idea.  Peace  men  in  the 
North,  sympathizing  with  that  idea,  without  care 
or  thought  for  the  country  in  its  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, were  simply  white-livered  re-actionists  :  keep- 
ing out  of  bodily  harm,  they  were  content  to 
smirk  with  joy  when  the  national  flag  trailed  in 
the  dust.  The  course  of  the  government  in  eman- 
cipating and  in  arming  blacks  gave  the  peace 
Democrat  opportunity  to  style  the  contest  "a  nig- 
ger war."  The  negro  of  that  day,  as  is  the  China- 
man of  this,  was  the  special  object  of  hatred  by 
the  naturalized  alien  race  which  makes  so  large  a 
part  of  the  Democracy  of  the  North.  To  such 
prominence  had  the  peace  party  risen  in  1863,  tnat 
it  became  the  main  auxiliary  of  the  rebellion. 
Vanquished  at  the  front  by  veteran,  loyal  legions, 
disloyalty  saw  that  its  drooping  fortunes  must  be 
revived  in  the  treason  which  worked  to  divide 
politically  the  North.  By  secret  orders  parading 
nightly  as  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  and  "  Knights  of 
the  Golden  Circle ; "  by  boldly  forming  and  arm- 
ing military  bands  wherever  Democratic  senti- 
ment was  in  the  ascendant ;  by  mobocratic  resist- 


54  ABOUT  GRANT. 

ance  to  .the  laws  in  Democratic  strongholds ;  by 
predatory  bands  of  desperadoes  threatening  vio- 
lence in  the  borders ;  by  avowed  declarations  of 
opposition  to  conscription ;  by  base  appeals  to  pas- 
sion from  an  Ex-President  of  the  United  States, 
who  designated  the  loyal  conflict  as  the  "  mailed 
hand  of  military  usurpation  in  the  North  striking 
down  the  liberties  of  the  people ; "  by  these  acts  of 
treachery,  together  with  peace  talk  in  the  high- 
ways and  popular  assemblies,  the  "  fire  in  the  rear  " 
rekindled  the  flickering  embers  of  treason  in  the 
South  by  the  blaze  of  such  fuel  as  burning  orphan 
asylums.  The  despair  of  the  retreating  rebel  was 
turned  to  joy  by  shrieks  of  helpless  black  children 
pursued  by  the  peace  Democrat  in  riotous  demon- 
stration against  the  loyal  draft.  The  peace  con- 
spiracy was  wide-spread  and  elaborately  planned.1 

On  the  Democratic  standards  of  the  North  the 
bewildered  gaze  of  treason  was  now  fastened. 
As  the  banners  of  the  foe  went  down  before 
the  tramp  of  our  armies,  his  cause  rose  wherever 

i  "The  first  blow  —  the  signal  for  uprising  —  was  to  be  struck  a't 
Chicago  during  the  sittings  of  the  Democratic  Convention,  when  eight 
thousand  Confederate  prisoners,  confined  in  Camp  Douglas,  near  that  city, 
were  to  be  liberated  and  armed  by  the  rebel  refugees  from  Canada  there 
assembled,  and  five  thousand  sympathizers  with  the  conspirators,  and 
members  of  the  treasonable  league,  resident  in  Chicago.  Then  the  Con- 
federate prisoners  at  Indianapolis  were  to  be  released  and  armed,  and  the 
hosts  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  were  to  gather  at  appointed 
rendezvous  to  the  number  of  full  one  hundred  thousand  men.  This  force, 
springing  out  of  the  earth  as  it  were,  in  the  rear  of  Grant  and  Sherman, 
would,  it  was  believed,  compel  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Richmond  and 
Atlanta,  and  secure  peace  on  the  basis  of  -the  independence  of  the  '  Con- 
federate States.'  " 


THE  FIRE  IN  THE  REAR.  55 

a  Democratic  caucus  or  convention  gathered. 
Guided  by  the  light  of  history,  it  is  safe  to  say, 
that,  in  all  that  makes  man  respect  his  fellow-man, 
the  war  rebel  of  the  South  stands,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  world,  far  in  advance  of  the  peace 
Democrat  of  the  North. 


56  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

UNION  BALLOTS  AND  UNION  BULLETS. 

GRANT  had  said,  in  concluding  one  of  the  most 
comprehensive  military  reports  ever  written,  that 
his  object  was  "to  hammer  continuously  against 
the  armed  force  of  the  enemy  and  his  resources, 
until  by  mere  attrition,  if  in  no  other  way,  there 
should  be  nothing  left  to  him  but  an  equal  sub- 
mission, with  the  loyal  section  of  our  common 
country,  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
land."  That  he  regarded  it  as  essential  that  pub- 
lic opinion  should  second  the  hammering  process 
is  proved  by  the  following  letter :  — 

"  I  have  no  doubt  but  the  enemy  are  exceedingly  anxibus 
to  hold  out  until  after  the  presidential  election.  They  have 
many  hopes  from  its  effects.  They  hope  a  counter-revolu- 
tion ;  they  hope  the  election  of  the  peace  candidate ;  in 
fact,  like  Micawber,  they  hope  for  '  something  to  turn  up.' 
Our  peace  friends,  if  tJiey  expect  peace  from  separation,  are 
much  mistaken.  It  would  be  but  thf  beginning  of  war, 
with  thousands  of  Northern  men  joining  the  South,  because 
of  our  disgrace  in  allowing  separation.  To  have  peace  on 
any  terms,  the  South  would  demand  the  restoration  of  their 
slaves  already  freed.  They  would  demand  indemnity  for 
losses  sustained,  and  they  would  demand  a  treaty  which 
would  make  the  North  slave-hunters  for  the  South.  They 


UNION  BALLOTS  AND   UNION  BULLETS.     57 

would  demand  pay,  or  the  restoration  of  every  slave  escap- 
ing to  the  North. 

(Signed) 

"U.  S.  GRANT." 

As  lieutenant-general,  Grant  had  not  only  to 
face  the  schemes  of  the  peace  Democracy  strain- 
ing to  embitter  public  sentiment  and  embarrass 
the  North,  but  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  exhibited 
something  of  a  divided  attachment,  and  looked 
with  distrust,  if  not  discontent,  upon  its  new 
commander.  That  noble  army  had  in  it  the  best 
fighting  qualities ;  for  it  had  been  pitted  against 
the  ablest  general  the  South  had  put  in  the  field. 
Under  various  chiefs  it  had  dashed  against  Lee, 
but  only,  as  the  waves  dash  against  a- rock,  to  roll 
back,  as  it  were,  exhausted  with  vain  effort. 
These  battles  had  made  the  soil  of  Virginia  a 
vast  burial-ground  of  heroes ;  but  no  victory 
had  yet  crowned  our  arms  on  that  bloody  arena. 
Antietam  had  forced  the  invader  from  Maryland, 
and  Gettysburg  had  hurled  the  great  leader  of 
treason  back  to  his  lair  in  distress  and  disappoint- 
ment, without  decisive  results.  Still  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  blazoned  with  deeds  of  valor ;  and 
its  scarred  veterans  loved,  with  no  common  affec- 
tion, their  old  commanders.  The  familiar  names 
were  dear  to  them,  and  it  was  not  with  altogether 
satisfied  hearts  they  saw. the  Western  hero  rise 
above  their  favorite  generals.  Grant  knew  and 
felt  the  difficulties  and  discomfort  of  the  situation. 
He  knew  also  that  the  rebellion  would  never  be 


58  ABOUT  GRANT. 

crushed  until  one  thing  had  been  done  that  had 
never  yet  been  done,  —  to  whip  Lee  effectually. 
This  finishing  business  did  not  begin  auspiciously. 
No  other  sensation  but  utter  dismay  is  possible,  as 
we  turn  back  to  these  perilous  hours.  The  first 
movement  upon  Petersburg  had  collapsed,  for 
causes  unexplained  to  this  day.  The  march  from 
the  Wilderness  to  Cold  Harbor  was  attended  by 
such  wailing  of  sad  hearts,  such  "hecatombs  of 
slaughter,"  as  the  world  rarely  hears  or  sees. 
The  abandonment  of  the  attempt  to  fight  Lee 
longer  north  of  Richmond ;  the  change  of  plan 
by  investment  of  the  Southern  capital,  and  its  iso- 
lation from  the  Confederacy;  the  skurry  and  panic 
at  Washington  at  the  approach  of  Early  to  its 
line  of  fortifications,  —  had  tended  to  dishearten 
the  stoutest  trust  of  patriotism,  and  to  demoralize 
the  condition  of  the  entire  country.  The  debt  had 
swollen  to  eighteen  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 
Gold  had  ballooned  to  two  eighty-five,  —  the  high- 
est figure  reached  during  the  war,  — and  the  land 
seemed  to  reel  under  its  heavy  load.  Above  all 
the  sorrow  of  a  great  people  in  sore  travail,  above 
the  shots  of  contending  armies,  above  all  other 
wrangling  and  confusion,  could  be  heard  the 
hoarse  croaking  and  hollow  mockery  of  the  Demo- 
cratic marplots  in  national  convention  assembled : 
"  Stop  the  fight !  the  war  is  a  failure" 

Grant  was  impressed  that  the  national  cause 
needed  the  momentum  of  a  victory. 

The  election  of  a  President  and  \a  new  Congress 


UNION  BALLOTS  AND   UNION  BULLETS.      59 

was  impending.  Lost  to  the  Union  side,  the 
Union  itself  would  be  lost.  He  felt  that  his  best 
contribution  to  loyalty  would  be  in  fresh  success. 
Success  came.  Sheridan  had  been  told  by  Grant 
to  "go  in,"  and  try  his  hand  in  the  valley  of  the 
Shenandoah.  He  went  in,  and  whirled  an  army 
glutted  with  conquest  back  in  grievous  rout l  and 
confusion  ;  giving  to  the  world  a  story  that  will 
live  while  men  admire  heroic  action,  and  women 
sing  of  daring  and  bravery.  Before  the  famous 
ride  of  Sheridan,  the  loyal  ear  had  been  electrified 
and  the  loyal  heart  gladdened  with  the  news, 
""Atlanta  has  fallen." 

The  Vice-President  of  the  Southern  Confeder- 
acy had  said,  after  reading  the  proceedings  of  the 
peace  Democracy  at  their  National  Convention  at 
Chicago,  "  It  is  the  first  ray  of  light  I  have  seen 
from  the  North  since  the  war  began.  I  feel  like 
exclaiming,  *  Hail,  holy  light ! ' '  But,  while  trai- 


l  "  After  a  campaign  of  four  months,  Sherman  had  reached  the  goal 
assigned  him,  and  now  occupied  a  position  in  the  very  heart  of  the  rebel 
dominions,  eating  out  its  richest  products,  intercepting  communication, 
and  standing  ready  to  push  forward  with  his  mighty  host  towards  Virginia 
or  to  the  Atlantic  sea-coast. 

"  The  great  advantage  of  his  victory  was,  however,  that  it  enabled 
Grant  to  move  Sherman  towards  himself,  thus  interposing  a  powerful 
army  between  Lee  and  the  rebel  forces  in  the  South- West,  while  the  rebel 
railroad  system  should  be  completely  destroyed.  With  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  investing  Petersburg,  and  Sherman's  hundred  thousand  veterans 
at  Atlanta,  Grant  felt  that  the  days  of  the  rebellion  were  numbered  ;  for, 
although  the  armed  forces  of  the  enemy  had  not  yet  been  destroyed,  they 
had  been  outgeneraled,  and  henceforward,  although  they  might  struggle 
bravely  to  retrieve  their  fallen  fortunes,  they  were  destined  to  gather  noth- 
ing but  the  bitter  fruits  of  disappointment." 


60  ABOUT  GRANT. 

tors  at  the  South  were  thus  hailing  the  treasona- 
ble glimmer  made  by  their  brethren  at  the  North, 
the  President  had,  by  proclamation,  ordered  salutes 
of  one  hundred  guns  at  all  military  and  naval 
arsenals,  and  advised  the  people  to  give  common 
thanks  at  their  respective  places  of  public  wor- 
ship the  ensuing  sabbath  to  commemorate  the 
victories  of  Farragut  at  Mobile,  and  the  victory 
of  Sherman  at  Atlanta.  A  few  weeks  after 
these  glorious  tributes  to  the  national  cause  were 
rendered,  the  great  body  of  the  American  people 
went  to  the  polls,  and  so  cast  their  suffrages,1  that, 
by  overwhelming  majorities,  Union  ballots  upheld 
the  flag  for  which  thousands  had  fallen,  and  around 
which  a  million  of  armed  men  now  stood  ready 

l  The  result  of  the  presidential  election  gave  great  joy  to  all  the  true 
friends  of  the  Union  at  home  and  abroad.  That  election  was  waited  for 
with  the  greatest  anxiety  by  millions  of  men.  A  thousand  hopes  and 
fears  were  excited.  Vast  interests  hung  upon  the  verdict ;  and  for  a  while 
in  our  country  every  thing  connected  with  trade  and  manufactures  seemed 
to  be  stupefied  by  suspense.  Gold,  the  delicate  barometer  of  commercial 
thought,  fluttered  amazingly  as  the  hour  of  decision  drew  nigh.  At 
length  the  result  was  announced. 

Principle  had  triumphed  over  expediency.  'The  nation  had  decided 
by  its  calmly  expressed  voice,  after  years  of  distressing  war,  and  with  the 
burden  upon  its  shoulders  of  a  public  debt  amounting  to  two  thousand 
million  dollars,  to  fight  on,  and  put  down  the  rebellion  at  any  cost.  A 
load  was  lifted  from  the  great  loyal  heart  of  the  republic.  Congratula- 
tions came  over  the  sea  like  sweet  perfumes ;  and  out  of  the  mouths  of 
the  dusky  toilers  on  the  plantations  of  the  South  went  up  simple,  fervid 
songs  of  praise  to  God  for  this  seal  of  their  deliverance.  For  the  election 
had  surely  proclaimed  "liberty  throughout  all  the  land  to  all  the  inhabit- 
ants thereof." 

By  it  the  hopes  of  the  conspirators  were  blasted.  They  well  knew  the 
power  that  slumbered  behind  that  vote,  and  which  would  now  be  awak- 
ened in  majestic  energy. 


UNION  BALLOTS  AND    UNION  BULLETS.      6l 

to  give  their  lives.  The  guns  of  the  soldier  and 
the  votes  of  the  citizen  told  against  the  common 
enemies  of  the  nation,  —  the  Confederate  army 
and  the  Democratic  party. 


GRANT  AND  THE   "LOST   CAUSE.' 


"  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work 
that  they  have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  that  cause  for  which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion  ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the  dead  shall  not  have  died  in 
vain  ;  that  the  nation  shall,  under  God,  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom  ;  and 
governments  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not 
perish  from  the  earth."  —  LINCOLN  at  Gettysburg. 

"  Your  enemy  continues  a  struggle  in  which  our  final  triumph  must  be 
inevitable.  Unduly  elated  with  their  recent  successes,  they  imagine  that 
temporary  reversion  can  quell  your  spirits  or  shake  your  determination ; 
and  they  are  now  gathering  heavy  masses  for  a  general  invasion,  in  the 
vain  hope  that  by  desperate  efforts  success  may  at  length  be  reached. 
You  know  too  well,  my  countrymen,  what  they  mean  by  success.  Their 
malignant  rage  aims  at  nothing  less  than  the  extermination  of  yourselves, 
your  wives,  and  your  children.  They  seek  to  destroy  what  they  cannot 
plunder.  They  propose  as  spoils  of  victory  that  your  homes  shall  be 
partitioned  among  wretches  whose  atrocious  cruelty  has  stamped  infamy 
upon  their  government."  —  JEFFERSON  DAVIS:  Address  read  to  Lee's 
Soldiers  offer  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg, 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   VANQUISHED    CHIEF. 

"  WHEN  Sherman  penetrated  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  and 
accomplished  his  wonderful  march,  Grant,  who  had  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  that  march,  and  taken  all  of  its  respon- 
sibility, was  still  sitting  quietly  in  front  of  Petersburg;  and 
the  country  rang  with  applause  for  the  brilliant  lieutenant, 
affording  no  share  of  this  to  the  chief  who  had  sent  the  lieu- 
tenant on  his  errand,  and,  by  his  other  movements  a  thou- 
sand miles  away,  had  rendered  the  success  of  the  lieutenant 
possible.  It  was  even  purposed  in  Congress  to  place  Sher- 
man in  the  rank  which  Grant  enjoyed.  Sherman  wrote  on 
the  subject  at  once  to  Grant,  saying  that  the  proposition  was 
without  his  knowledge,  and  begging  Grant  to  use  his  influ- 
ence against  it.  This,  of  course,  Grant  refused  to  do,  and 
replied  to  Sherman,  '  If  you  are  put  above  me,  I  shall  always 
obey  you,  just  as  you  always  have  me.'  The  history  of  the 
world  may  be  searched  in  vain  to  find  a  parallel  of  mag- 
nanimity, friendship,  and  patriotism."  —  Campaign  Life. 

This  transfer  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
people  was,  if  it  existed,  but  a  momentary  impulse. 
Grant,  during  his  seeming  inactivity,  had  been 
arranging  for  the  final  blow.  Thomas,  Sherman, 
Sheridan,  had  been  given  special  work  bearing  on 
one  result,  —  the  fall  of  Richmond  and  capitulation 
of  Lee.  Every  means  of  escape,  all  communica- 

65 


66  ABOUT   GRANT. 

tion  with  the  rest  of  the  Confederacy,  was  cut  off 
and  destroyed  :  our  armies  were  drawn  together, 
making  a  circle  of  steel  around  the  beleaguered 
capital  and  the  harassed  chief.  So  carefully  and 
completely  had  Grant  mapped  out  his  last  cam- 
paign, that,  after  a  long  season  of  toil  over  his 
charts,  diagrams,  and  plans,  while  at  private  quar- 
ters in  New  York,  it  is  said  that  he  gave  a  pass 
dated  months  ahead  to  an  intimate  friend,  one  of 
the  stanchest  loyalists  in  the  nation,  granting  ad- 
mission to  his  headquarters  in  the  field  ;  telling 
him,  if  he  reported  at  the  time  mentioned,  he  would 
see  the  fall  of  Richmond.  The  city  was  evacuated 
at  the  exact  date  of  this  most  extraordinary  pass. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  1865,  Lee  made  an  assault 
on  Grant's  lines.  One  of  the  general  officers  far 
to  the  front  was  visited  by  Grant  with  the  request 
to  be  put  as  near  as  possible  to  the  enemy.  Cau- 
tiously he  crawled  very  close  to  the  rebel  skirmish- 
line.  After  lying  on  the  ground  and  listening  for 
some  time  with  great  attention,  he  withdrew,  say- 
ing, "  The  heart  is  all  out  of  them.  Their  fire  is 
slack  and  scattered.  It  is  time  to  end  it."  One 
history  says  of  that  end, — 

"On  the  ist  of  April  Sheridan  attacked  Lee's  right  at 
Five  Forks,  assaulted  and  carried  the  fortified  position  of  the 
enemy,  capturing  all  his  artillery  and  between  five  thousand 
and  six  thousand  prisoners.  The  defeat  was  decisive.  The 
rebels  fled  in  every  direction  ;  and  the  bulk  of  the  force  that 
had  been  in  front  of  Sheridan  never  was  able  again  to  rejoin 
Lee. 


THE     VANQUISHED    CHIEF.  67 

"  News  of  the  victory  reached  Grant  at  nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  He  at  once  determined  that  the  hour  had  come 
for  the  final  assault.  Without  consulting  any  one,  he  wrote 
a  despatch  to  Meade,  ordering  an  attack  at  midnight  all 
along  the  lines  in  front  of  Petersburg,  which  were  at  least 
ten  miles  long.  .  .  .  That  night  the  enemy  evacuated  Peters- 
burg and  Richmond,  flying  south-west  towards  Danville. 
So  the  goal  that  our  armies  had  been  four  years  seeking  to 
attain  was  won.  Grant  did  not  wait  a  moment,  but,  without 
entering  Richmond  in  person,  pushed  on  in  pursuit  at  day- 
light on  the  3d,  leaving  to  a  subordinate  the  glory  of  seiz- 
ing the  capital  of  Virginia.  The  energy  with  which  he  fol- 
followed  the  unhappy  Lee  was  terrific.  He  disposed  his 
columns  on  two  roads,  and  marched  with  marvellous  s'peed. 
Sheridan,  Ord,  Meade,  vied  with  each  other  in  their  efforts 
to  overtake  and  annihilate  the  last  fighting  force  of  the  re- 
bellion ;  and  the  men,  inspired  with  their  recent  and  magnifi- 
cent triumphs,  murmured  at  no  labors  or  dangers.  Mean- 
while mindful,  even  at  this  intense  crisis,  of  all  other  and 
co-operative  emergencies,  Grant,  as  he  was  pursuing  Lee, 
sent  orders  to  Sherman  to  push  at  once  against  Johnston, 
so  that  the  war  might  be  finished  at  once.  '  Rebel  armies,' 
he  reminded  him,  'are  now  the  only  strategic  points  to 
strike  at.'  " 

It  may  be  doubted  if  the  loyal  American  lives 
who  does  not  appreciate  the  sterling  moral  quali- 
ties, the  intellectual  powers,  and  surprising  mili- 
tary genius  which  elevated  Lee  above  any  other 
Southern  officer  ;  but,  in  proportion  as  they  ad- 
mire the  military  chief  of  the  rebellion,  they  detest 
its  civil  head.  The  infamous  charge  of  Jefferson 
Davis  that  the  object  of  the  loyal  armies  aimed 
"  at  nothing  less  than  the  extermination  of  your- 
selves, your  wives,  and  your  children,"  found  its 


68  ABOUT   GRANT. 

most  fitting  rebuke  in  the  following  account  and 
terms  of  surrender  :  — 

"  All  arms,  artillery,  and  public  property  were  to  be  turned 
over  to  officers  appointed  by  Grant.  These  were  the  stipu- 
lations as  Lee  consented  to  them  ;  but,  after  he  had  signified 
his  acceptance,  Grant  inserted  the  clause  that  the  side-arms 
and  private  horses  and  baggage  of  the  officers  might  be  re- 
tained. Lee  seemed  much  gratified  at  this  magnanimity, 
which  saved  him  and  his  officers  the  peculiar  humiliation  of 
a  formal  surrender  of  their  weapons.  He  asked,  how  about 
the  horses  of  the  cavalry-men,  which,  in  the  rebel  army, 
were  the  property  of  the  private  soldier.  Grant  replied 
that  these  were  included  in  the  surrender.  Lee  looked  at 
the  paper  again,  and  acquiesced  in  Grant's  interpretation. 
The  latter  then  said,  '  I  will  not  change  the  terms  of  the 
surrender,  General  Lee ;  but  I  -will  instruct  my  officers 
-who  receive  the  paroles  to  allow  the  men  to  retain  their 
horses,  and  take  them  home  to  'work  their  little  farms?  "  — 
RICHARDSON. 

Thus  the  manhood  and  generosity  of  Grant  an- 
swered the  lying  imputations  of  Davis. 


THE    VANISHED    CAPITAL.  69 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE   VANISHED    CAPITAL. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  went,  by  invitation  of  Gen. 
Grant,  to  witness  the  "  lost  cause  "  in  the  throes 
of  death. 

In  contesting  Illinois  with  Douglas  in  1858, 
Lincoln  had  asserted  as  his  belief  that  this  gov- 
ernment could  not  "endure  permanently  half 
slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect,"  said  he, 
"  the  Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the 
house  to  fall ;  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  be  all  the  one  thing  or  all  the 
other."  He  was  at  the  camp  of  Grant  to  behold, 
if  not  the  complete  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy, 
at"  least  a  mighty  stride  towards  this  desirable, 
though  yet  unaccomplished,  end.  Almost  four 
years  previous  Stephens  of  Georgia,  in  addressing 
the  citizens  of  Richmond,  who  were  about  to  range 
Virginia  with  the  Southern  Confederacy,  said, 
"  What  had  you,  the  friends  of  liberty,  to  hope  for 
while  under  Lincoln  ?  Nothing.  Beginning  in 
usurpation,  where  will  he  end  ?  He  will  quit 
Washington  as  ignominiously  as  he  entered  it, 
and  God's  will  will  have  been  accomplished." 
This  man,  whose  large,  kind  heart,  perfect  hon- 


70  ABOUT    GRANT. 

esty,  and  tireless  consecration  of  effort  to  his  coun- 
try had  won  from  his  loyal  compatriots  a  love  and 
trust  bestowed  on  but  few  men  who  have  ever 
lived;  the  man,  whose  legal  choice  as  President 
had  given  umbrage  to  the  conspirators  of  the 
South ;  whose  name  had  been  held  up  in  scorn  as 
a  brutal  tyrant,  and  covered  with  derision  as  an 
ignorant  despot ;  whom  children  had  been  taught 
to  hate  and  brand  with  the  vilest  epithets,  and 
upon  whose  head  the  loudest  curses  and  foulest 
abuse  had  been  heaped  by  a  misguided  people,  — 
this  great,  loving,  simple-hearted  man,  because 
God's  will  had  been  accomplished,  had  "quit 
Washington  "  to  soon  visit  the  vanishing  capital 
of  a  baseless  confederacy.  The  event  is  so  admi- 
rably described  by  Holland  in  his  "  Life  of  Lin- 
coln," that  place  here  is  given  to  it,  to  impress 
on  a  new  generation  a  most  pathetic  and  striking 
incident  in  history:  — 

"  He  went  up  in  a  man-of-war  on  the  afternoon  of  Mon- 
day, landed  at  Rochetts,  below  the  city,  and,  with  his  boy 
'  Tad,'  rode  up  the  remaining  mile  in  a  boat.  He  entered 
the  city  in  no  triumphal  car.  No  brilliant  cavalcade  accom- 
panied him;  but  on  foot,  with  no  guard  except  the  sailors 
who  had  rowed  him  up  the  James,  he  entered,  and  passed 
through  the  streets  of  the  fallen  capital.  But  his  presence 
soon  became  known  to  the  grateful  blacks,  who  pressed 
upon  him  with  their  thankful  ejaculations  and  tearful  bless- 
ings on  every  side.  Better  and  more  expressive  were  the 
hats  and  handkerchiefs  tossed  in  the  air  by  these  happy 
and  humble  people,  than  flags  and  streamers  floating  from 
masts  and  housetops.  'Glory  to  God!  glory!  glory!' 


THE    VANISHED    CAPITAL.  71 

shouted  the  black  multitude  of  liberated  slaves.  '  I  thank 
you,  dear  Jesus,  that  I  behold  President  Linkum  ! '  exclaimed 
a  woman  standing  in  her  humble  doorway,  weeping  in  the 
fulness  of  her  joy.  Another,  wild  with  delight,  could  do 
nothing  but  jump,  and  strike  her  hands,  and  shout  with 
wild  reiteration,  '  Bless  de  Lord !  bless  de  Lord !  bless 
de  Lord ! '  At  last  the  streets  became  choked  with  the 
multitude,  and  soldiers  were  called  to  clear  the  way.  A 
writer  in  '  The  Atlantic  Monthly,'  to  whom  the  author  is 
indebted  for  the  most  of  these  particulars,  says  that  one  old 
negro  exclaimed,  '  May  de  good  Lord  bless  you,  President 
Linkum ! '  while  he  removed  his  hat,  and  the  tears  of  joy 
rolled  down  his  cheeks.  '  The  President,'  the  account  pro- 
ceeds, '  removed  his  own  hat,  and  bowed  in  silence ;  but  it 
was  a  bow  which  upset  the  forms,  laws,  customs,  and  cere- 
monies of  centuries.  It  was  a  death-shock  to  chivalry,  and 
a  mortal  wound  to  caste.' " 


72  ABOUT    GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

BREAKING   RANKS. 

NEITHER  the  suppression  of  a  gigantic  rebellion, 
nor  the  construction,  during  the  term  of  civil  war, 
of  a  gigantic  continental  railway,  —  stretching 
over  a  thousand  miles  of  desert,  and  traversing 
the  steeps  of  huge  mountains,  —  did  so  much  to 
astonish  the  civilized  world,  or  silence  the  evil  pre- 
dictions of  foreigners  sceptical  and  inimical  to 
our  form  of  government,  as  the  disarmament  of 
our  soldiers.  It  was  incomprehensible  how  a  vast 
armed  force,  for  years  occupying  hostile  territory 
and  exposed  to  all  the  reckless  habits  inseparable 
from  war,  could  be  suddenly  discharged  from  mili- 
tary service,  and  return  to  peaceful  life  without 
causing  confusion  and  collision  to  shock  the  social 
order  and  endanger  civil  relations.  A  million  of 
soldiers  were  mustered  out  in  a  few  months  and 
went  back  to  their  homes,  and  took  up  again 
their  avocations,  without  causing  a  ripple  upon 
the  surface  of  society,  with  no  other  sign  of  dis- 
order than  the  wild  welcome  that  everywhere 
greeted  the  faded  and  tattered  colors  of  the  loyal 
regiments  on  their  homeward  march. 

A  multitude  of  soldiers  became  lost  in  a  larger 


BREAKING  RANKS.  73 

multitude  of  citizens,  —  their  bronzed  faces  soon 
bleaching  under  the  rays  of  peace;  their  scars 
and  wounds  alone  remaining  to  tell  of  their  share 
in  the  struggle  for  the  nation's  life.  The  stained 
and  rent  flags  of  the  loyal  army  are  preserved  in 
the  Capitols  of  every  loyal  State;  and  year  by 
year  the  survivors  of  that  great  martial  comrade-" 
ship  carry  flowers  to  the  graves  of  the  lamented 
dead.  Occasionally  living  members  of  the  "  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  "  are  seen  in  public  proces- 
sion, adding  by  their  presence  dignity  to  public 
celebrations  ;  and  that  is  all.  No  special  power 
or  influence  inures  to  these  saviors  of  the  repub- 
lic, save  the  universal  respect  due  their  valor  and 
sacrifice. 

No  clamor  for  confiscation  or  reprisal  was  ever 
raised.  No  dollar  of  treasure  was  ever  demanded 
by  these  victors  as  revenge  or  satisfaction  for  their 
losses  and  burdens  here.  Magnanimity,  if  ever 
shown  by  conquerors,  has  been  shown  by  these 
men,  who  voluntarily  retired  from,  as  they  volun- 
tarily entered  into,  the  service  of  their  imperilled 
country.  It  was  a  magnanimity  so  generous,  that 
it  included  within  the  wide  circle  of  equal  citizen- 
ship the  mass  of  our  foes,  and  held  forth  the  full- 
est amnesty  to  every  principal  offender  that  sought 
its  boon. 

The  spirit  of  conciliation  and  fraternity  which 
incited  the  motive  of  the  Union  soldier  when  he 
broke  ranks  and  returned  to  civil  life  was  inspired 
by  the  action  of  Grant  at  Appomattox.  In  the 


74  ABOUT    GRANT. 

farewell  address  of  the  great  Union  leader  to  the 
disbanding  army,  the  victory  of  peace  and  order 
was  foreshadowed. 

To  that  triumphant  army  at  the  moment  of  its 
dissolution,  he  said,  — 

"  In  obedience  to  your  country's  call,  you  left  your  homes 
and  firesides,  and  volunteered  in  its  defence.  Victory  has 
crowned  your  valor,  and  secured  the  purpose  of  your  patri- 
otic hearts  ;  and,  with  the  gratitude  of  your  countrymen  and 
the  highest  honors  a  great  and  free  nation  can  accord,  you 
will  soon  be  permitted  to  return  to  your  homes  and  families, 
conscious  of  having  discharged  the  highest  duty  of  Ameri- 
can citizens. 

"  To  achieve  the  glorious  triumph,  and  secure  to  your- 
selves, your  fellow-countrymen,  and  posterity,  the  blessings 
of  free  institutions,  tens  of  thousands  of  your  gallant  country- 
men have  fallen,  and  sealed  their  priceless  legacy  with  their 
lives.  The  graves  of  these  a  grateful  nation  bedews  with 
tears,  honors  their  memories,  and  will  ever  cherish  and  sup- 
port their  stricken  families."  —  U.  S.  GRANT,  Lieutenant- 
General. 


GRANT   IN   CIVIL   EMERGENCY. 


"  Thither  let  us  tend 
From  off  the  tossing  of  these  fiery  waves  : 
There  rest,  if  any  rest  can  harbor  there ; 
And,  re-assembling  our  afflicted  Powers, 
Consult  how  we  may  henceforth  most  offend 
Our  Enemy  ;  our  own  loss  how  repair  ; 
How  overcome  this  dire  calamity  ; 
What  re-enforcement  we  may  gain  from  hope ; 
If  not,  what  resolution  from  despair." 

Paradise  Lost. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

FIRST   ATTEMPT   TO    "CLASP." 

WE  have  quoted  what  Milton  makes  the  insti- 
gator of  the  first  recorded  rebellion  utter,  and  we 
shall  see  how  it  applies  to  our  own  history. 

Grant,  in  1865,  after  visiting  the  South,  made 
a  report  to  the  authorities  stating  the  pleasure  it 
gave  him  to  learn  from  the  leading  men  whom  he 
met,  "  that  they  not  only  accepted  the  decision 
arrived  at  as  final,  but  now  that  the  smoke  of 
battle  had  cleared  away,  and  time  had  been  given 
for  reflection,  that  this  decision  had  been  a  fortu- 
nate one  for  the  whole  country ;  they  receiving 
like  benefit  from  it  with  those  who  opposed  them 
in  field  and  council." 

The  spirit  of  the  South  just  after  the  surrender 
of  Lee  was  sensible  and  submissive.  When  the 
problem  of  re-adjustment  was  under  solution,  the 
"  original  sin "  of  the  section  broke  out  again. 
The  Democratic  party  took  the  ground  that  the 
Southern  States  were  "  in  the  Union,  and  entitled 
to  every  right  and  privilege  belonging  to  every 
other  State."  Aside  from  the  law  of  self-preser- 
vation, which  in  war  is  the  sole  controlling  law 

77 


78  ABOUT   GRANT. 

and  overrides  written  compacts,  the  Democratic 
argument  was  unanswerable.  But  to  accept  the 
Democratic  view  would  lead  to  the  glaring  incon- 
sistency,—  that  the  South,  after  it  had  stripped 
Northern  households  of  loved  inmates,  and  had 
forced  on  the  Northern  people  enormous  burdens, 
would  be  more  powerful  by  increased  numbers  in 
the  councils  of  the  nation  and  in  the  electoral  col- 
lege than  it  had  been  before  the  war.  The  end  of 
slavery  added  two-fifths  to  the  representative  vol- 
ume of  the  South,  and  nothing  to  its  vote.  By 
Democratic  manipulation  the  crime  of  treason 
would  be  rewarded  rather  than  punished.  Thirty 
new  votes  in  Congress  and  College  would  be  the 
bounty  paid  the  rebels  by  the  juggle  of  Democratic 
restoration.  Heavy  obligations  of  war  were  en- 
tailed upon  the  loyal  North  :  the  main  benefits  of 
peace  were  to  revert  to  the  disloyal  South.  This 
gross  injustice  would  also  transfer  the  national 
control  to  the  Democratic  party.  To  prevent  such 
wrong  and  calamity,  the  loyal  majority  determined 
settlement  by  means  of  the  Constitutional  Amend- 
ments. At  this  juncture  the  adherents  of  loyalty 
for  the  first  time  divided.  Seward,  Chase,  Dix, 
Raymond,  with  many  other  prominent  Republi- 
cans, objected  to  some  extreme  features  of  Recon- 
struction. 

John  A.  Andrew,  the  war  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, made  an  eloquent  plea  for  a  policy  of 
Southern  re-organization  that  would  invite  the  co- 
operation of  the  best  men  and  natural  leaders. 


FIRST  ATTEMPT    TO    "CLASP."  79 

The  amendments  especially  discriminated  against 
that  class.  Many  soldiers  in  the  Republican  par- 
ty regretted  such  discrimination.  They  felt,  that 
had  the  North  been  beaten,  and  had  terms  been 
suggested  demanding  as  a  return  to  political  fra- 
ternity that  the  voters  of  the  Northern  States 
should  by  their  own  act  disqualify  and  dishonor 
their  leaders,  they  would  have  died  before  receiv- 
ing rights  or  privileges  that  could  not  be  shared  by 
the  men  they  loved  and  honored.  This  element 
in  the  Reconstruction  plan  of  disqualifying  the 
influential  classes  of  the  South  was  the  secret  not 
only  of  Republican  opposition  before  it  became 
law,  but  explains  the  resistance  of  the  property- 
owner  and  the  educated  classes  when  subsequent- 
ly adopted.  To  limit  Southern  power  by  basing 
representation  on  voting  races  was  the  plan  urged 
by  conservative  Republicans.1 

1  "  If  we  have  the  constitutional  right  'to  make  all  men,  including 
negroes,  voters  in  the  State  they  inhabit,  let  us  do  it.  For  to  withhold  the 
franchise  from  any  human  being  solely  on  account  of  his  color,  is  unmanly, 
unchristian,  and  un-American.  If  by  the  nature  of  our  institutions  we  are 
precluded  from  regulating  suffrage  in  the  States,  let  us  honestly  admit  the 
fact,  and  cease  the  attempt  '  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come.'  It  is  hard- 
ly to  be  believed  that  this  nation, which  exerted  its  grand  energies  to  sup- 
press a  sinful  rebellion  which  sought  to  subvert  its  authority  and  govern- 
ment, after  succeeding,  should  itself  violate  and  disregard  its  own  laws. 
We  are  a  law-honoring  and  law-abiding  people.  If  our  statutes  are  wrong, 
let  us  repeal  them.  If  our  legislation  is  incomplete,  let  us  correct  it ;  not 
by  forced  construction,  but  by  calm  and  prescribed  rules.  While  we  be- 
lieve that  the  negro,  on  the  basis  of  intelligence  and  patriotism,  should  be 
permitted  to  vote  ;  while  we  will  plead  with  all  our  ability  for  the  extension 
of  this  privilege  to  him  everywhere,  and  back  up  our  entreaty  by  casting  our 
own  vote  in  his  favor  when  and  where  we  have  the  right  so  to  do,  —  we  have 
yet  to  learn  how.,  either  as  an  inherent  right  of  our  nature  or  the  civil  right 


80  ABOUT    GRANT. 

The  reduction  of  representation  to  voting  races 
would  make  it  impossible,  even  by  a  "  solid  South," 
to  jeopardize  loyal  supremacy.  The  policy  would, 
moreover,  assign  the  question  of  suffrage  for  freed- 
men  to  the  States  where  freedmen  resided.  The 
prospect  of  a  great  increase  in  its  political  impor- 
tance and  influence,  by  extending  suffrage  to  the 
blacks,  would  be  likely  to  decide  the  South,  and 
establish  a  progressive  party  naturally  in  the  hands 
of  the  most  enlightened  citizens.  All  movements 
for  conciliation  on  conservative  Republican  grounds 
were  defeated  through  the  ambition  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  the  North,  and  the  unmasking  of 
the  false  character  of  Southern  submission.  The 
pretended  renunciation  of  principles  underlying 
secession,  and  devotion  to  the  "flag"  and  the 
"  nation  "  as  loyally  understood,  were  shown  to  be 
hypocritical  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  masses. 
The  disposition  to  go  "  half-way  "  was  principally 
a  Northern  sentiment. 

The  Philadelphia  Convention  of  1866  was  the 
first  appearance  of  the  political  leaders  of  the 
South  in  a  national  body  since  the  opening  of 
the  Rebellion.  A  large  portion  of  the  Northern 
members  of  this  convention  were  Republicans,  and 

we  receive  from  the  laws,  we  can  compel  other  men  to  accept  our  views, 
and  foist  our  convictions  upon  xommunities  of  which  we  make  no  part, 
with  any  title  of  authority,  or  any  sanction  of  conferred  power.  Wherever 
this  nation  has  the  power,  it  should  protect  the  people.  Wherever  it  can, 
it  should  equalize  rights,  regardless  of  color,  race,  or  creed." 

This  extract  from  a  Republican  paper  shows  the  opinion  and  reasoning 
of  the  Republican  conservatives  of  that  date. 


FIRST  ATTEMPT    TO    "CLASP."  8 1 

had  been  soldiers  of  the  Union.  They  went  there  to 
fraternize.  The  "clasping"  fever  seized  them  early, 
and  with  the  most  it  had  but  a  short  run.  This 
first  movement  towards  national  union  found  that 
a  national  love-feast  was  looked  upon  suspiciously 
by  the  bulk  of  the  Northern  loyalists.  There  rose 
loud  hooting  and  much  jeering  at  Northern  and 
Southern  officers  as  they  walked  into  the  assembly 
"arm  in  arm."  The  heartiest  scorn  at  this  gush- 
ing tableaux  came  from  those  who  a  few  years 
later  went  into  the  express  business  of  "  shaking 
hands  over  the  bloody  chasm."  The  resolutions 
of  this  convention  were  of  the  genuine  pacifica- 
tory sort.  "  Gratitude  for  peace,"  a  desire  "  to 
forget  and  forgive  the  past,"  a  reverence  for  the 
Constitution  "  as  it  comes  to  us  from  our  ances- 
tors," and  a  "  regard  for  the  Union  in  its  restora- 
tion more  sacred  than  ever,"  were  some  of  the 
yearnings  of  "  peacemakers "  of  that  day.  The 
soldiers  who  held  these  views  of  reunion  then, 
though  some  were  maimed  and  all  were  veterans, 
were  dubbed  the  "Bread  and  Butter  Brigade." 
Six  years  after,  the  man  who  invented  this  term  of 
reproach  broke  from  the  Republican  party  to  take 
the  Democratic  nomination  on  a  platform  which 
demanded  "the  immediate  removal  of  all  disa- 
bilities," "universal  amnesty,"  "local  self-govern- 
ment," "State  self-government,"  and  the  "nation's 
return  to  methods  of  peace  and  the  constitutional 
limitations  of  power."  The  wise  constituency  that 
joined  with  the  editor  of  "The  Tribune"  in  de- 


82  ABOUT   GRANT. 

nouncing  the  premature  peace-offering  at  Philadel- 
phia in  1866  did  not  follow  him  when,  in  1872,  he 
consented  to  become  the  figure-head  of  Dem- 
ocracy in  leading  the  "  Confederate  brigadiers " 
back  to  national  rule.  The  people  were  then  wiser 
than  the  "Conservatives,"  as  later  they  were  wiser 
than  the  "  Independents."  They  mistrusted 
Southern  professions  of  loyalty  to  the  Union,  and 
acquiescence  in  the  results  of  the  war.  They  saw 
in  this  political  combination  at  Philadelphia  a  far 
greater  desire  for  political  power  than  for  real 
peace.  When  the  hidden  countenance  of  the 
Prophet  of  Khorassan  was  unveiled,  the  devoted 
followers  of  the  apostate  were  paralyzed  with 
fright  as  they  beheld  the  distorted  features  of  a 
face  they  thought  divine.  So,  when  the  disguise 
was  torn  away  at  Philadelphia,  and  the  Republicans 
who  made  part  of  this  first  fraternal  effort  beheld 
revealed  the  naked  deformity  of  the  Democratic 
party,  they  fled  from  the  scene  as  the  youths  of 
the  Orient  fled  from  the  monster  they  had  been 
taught  to  adore. 


AD    INTERIM   SECRETARY.  83 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

AD  INTERIM    SECRETARY. 

"A  MAN  can't  throw  away  his  tobacco  in  this 
country  without  hitting  a  justice  of  the  peace," 
was  the  way  in  which  an  irate  son  of  Massachu- 
setts expressed  his  contempt  for  the  multiplicity 
of  officials  in  that  State.  Plentiful  as  were  civil 
positions,  Grant  never  held  one  until  appointed 
secretary  of  war  ad  interim  during  Johnson's  ad- 
ministration. The  rem'oval  from  the  war-office  of 
its  energetic  and  patriotic  incumbent,  Stanton,  was 
in  opposition  to  the  protests  of  the  general  of  the 
army.  The  rejection  by  the  South  of  the  Four- 
teenth Amendment  had  darkened  the  prospect  of 
unity  and  peace.  Congress,  for  precaution,  if  not 
in  retaliation  for  that  act,  had  passed  Reconstruc- 
tion measures,  making  five  military  districts  of  the 
area  of  rebellion. 

The  connection  of  the  war  bureau  with  his  own 
department,  and  the  need  of  its  management  by 
a  proper  loyal  officer,  during  the  parturition  of 
reconstruction,  led  Grant,  as  the  "  safest  course," 
to  assent  to  the  wish  of  the  President,  and  fill  the 
vacancy  pending  the  disagreement  between  the 
Executive  and  Senate  with  reference  to  the  tenure 


84  ABOUT   GRANT. 

of  the  suspended  secretary  of  war.  In  accepting 
the  place,  Grant  was  misjudged.  It  was  asserted 
that  he  had  "gone  over  to  the  enemy,"  that  his 
natural  "  Copperhead  proclivities  "  had  developed, 
and  that  he  had  "betrayed  the  Union."  Had 
Grant  been  thin-skinned  or  over-sensitive,  or  had 
he  held  his  personal  vindication  of  more  impor- 
tance than  the  well-being  of  the  country,  he  would 
have  declined  his  doubtful  ad  interim  honors,  and 
left  public  affairs  to  drift  towards  confusion.  But 
he  was  a  patriot,  and  forgot  his  private  annoy- 
ance for  the  common  good.  He  took  the  position, 
and  held  it  for  five  months.  He  resisted  with 
proper,  yet  very  decided,  efforts  the  Executive 
action,  which  day  by  day  was  widening  the  breach 
newly  opened  between  the  contesting  sections  of 
the  country.  Grant  remonstrated  against  the  dis- 
placement of  Sheridan,  and  wrote  to  the  Presi- 
dent, "  Allow  me  to  say,  as  a  friend  desiring  peace 
and  quiet, — the  welfare  of  the  whole  country, 
North  and  South,  —  that  it  is  in  my  opinion  more 
than  the  loyal  people  (I  mean  those  who  supported 
the  government  during  the  great  rebellion)  will 
quietly  submit  to,  to  see  the  very  man  of  all 
others  whom  they  have  expressed  confidence  in 
removed."  But  Sheridan  "had  to  go."  Still 
Grant  held  on  ;  for  he  saw  that  work  was  to  be 
done.  His  industry  while  ad  interim  secretary 
was  untiring.  The  department  needed  overhaul- 
ing sadly;  and  retrenchment  —  the  principal  busi- 
ness of  the  nation  for  years  following  —  was  begun 


AD    INTERIM  SECRETARY.  85 

by  Grant  in  a  manner  so  judicious  and  thorough, 
that  it  served  as  a  model  for  all  subsequent  econo- 
mists. "Retrenchment  was  the  first  subject  to 
attract  my  attention,"  Grant  says  in  his  report. 
So  vigorous  was  the  reform  broom  plied  among 
the  sinecures,  surplus  incumbents,  idle  property, 
accumulated  rubbish,  and  needless  processes  of 
"  circumlocution,"  that  in  his  five  months  of  civil 
duty  he  caused  a  saving  to  the  government  of 
more  than  six  millions  before  the  year  expired.1 

The  collision  between  the  President  and  the 
Senate  concerning  the  suspension  of  Stanton,  and 
the  validity  of  the  "Tenure  of  Office  Act,"  made 
no  common  crisis.  A  rupture  of  the  most  serious 
nature  between  co-ordinate  branches  of  govern- 

1  By  his  direction,  while  secretary  of  war  ad  interim,  the  duties  of 
the  Bureaus  of  Rebel  Archives  and  of  Exchange  of  Prisoners  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  adjutant-general's  office,  thus  dispensing  with  the  services 
of  a  great  number  of  officers  and  clerks.  He  reduced  the  number  of 
agents  and  subordinates  in  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  largely  curtailed 
its  expenses ;  closed  useless  hospitals  and  dispensaries ;  discontinued  a 
long  list  of  superfluous  mustering  and  disbursing  offices,  discharging  their 
numerous  incumbents  and  attendants,  and  thus  stopping  the  needless 
expenditure  of  considerable  sums.  He  sold  surplus  animals,  ambu- 
lances, wagons,  &c.,  to  the  amount  of  $33,535  ;  and  superfluous  and  use- 
less stores  and  war  material  of  various  kinds,  amounting  to  $268,000  ;  an(j 
one  thousand  temporary  buildings  used  by  quartermasters  throughout  the 
country,  to  make  every  practicable  reduction  in  the  number  of  employes  on 
duty  under  their  direction.  The  result  was,  that  in  a  short  time  the 
monthly  expenses  of  that  department,  arising  from  the  hire  of  civilians, 
had  been  reduced  by  $407,065,  making  an  annual  saving  in  this  item  alone 
of  nearly  $5,000,000.  Besides  the  class  of  employees  just  mentioned,  the 
numbers  of  mechanics,  laborers,  and  others,  in  various  branches  of  the 
service,  were  so  reduced  that  the  monthly  expenditures  in  this  particular 
were  curtailed  full  $100,000,  making  an  annual  saving  of  more  than 
$1,200,000. 


86  ABOUT   GRANT. 

ment  was  imminent.  By  the  Constitution,  the 
right  of  removal  was  secured  as  the  plain  preroga- 
tive of  the  President.  The  Tenure  Act,  made  into 
law  in  the  heat  of  the  controversy,  required  con- 
current action  on  the  part  of  the  Senate  for 
removing  as  well  as  appointing  constitutional 
officers.  The  law  was  generally  held  to  be  illegal, 
but  had  not  yet  been  so  reported  by  the  compe- 
tent tribunal.  The  President  sought  to  force  an 
opinion  from  the  Supreme  Court  by  having  the 
secretary  ad  interim  refuse  to  obey  the  operation 
of  the  Tenure  Act,  which,  according  to  the  senato- 
rial view,  restored  Stanton,  as  his  removal  had  not 
been  approved  by  the  conferring  body.  To  regard 
the  law  as  void,  and  have  the  position  ratified  by 
the  court,  was  the  policy  of  the  Executive.  Grant 
determined  to  yield  the  place  on  the  theory  that 
all  laws  legally  enacted  were  binding,  until  overset 
by  judicial  process.  The  plan  of  the  President 
was  revolutionary ;  that  of  Grant  in  conformity  to 
the  soundest  precepts  of  law  and  order.  It  was 
an  emergency  fraught  with  the*  most  alarming 
symptoms.  The  body  politic  was  in  an  excited 
and  inflammable  state.  The  least  mistake  would 
lead  to  deplorable  results.  To  yield  to  the  Presi- 
dent would  have  been  a  dangerous  precedent  in 
the  direction  of  Executive  innovation.  The  hatred 
of  the  contending  powers  was  as  relentless  as  the 
hostility  that  Rome  held  for  Carthage,  It  was 
fortunate  for  both  the  liberties  and  the  integrity 
of  the  republic  that  the  secretary  ad  interim  was 


AD    INTERIM   SECRETARY.  87 

the  real  power  in  the  land.  Holding  with  firm 
hand  the  army ;  having  the  profoundest  respect 
for  the  law  ;  keeping  step  to  the  loyal  needs  of  the 
hour,  —  he  declined  to  second  the  President  in  his 
open  disregard  of  statutes  rightfully  passed ;  and 
thus  by  his  patriotic  conduct  he  held  the  nation 
to  its  constitutional  restraints. 

Grant  wrote  to  the  President  a  letter,  of  which 
the  following  is  the  conclusion  :  — 

"  The  course  you  would  have  it  understood  I  agreed  to 
pursue  was  in  violation  of  law,  and  without  orders  from 
you ;  while  the  course  I  did  pursue,  and  which  I  never 
doubted  you  fully  understood,  was  in  accordance  with  law, 
and  not  in  disobedience  of  any  orders  of  my  superior. 

"  And  now,  Mr.  President,  when  my  honor  as  a  soldier 
and  integrity  as  a  man  have  been  so  violently  assailed, 
pardon  me  for  saying  that  I  can  but  regard  this  whole 
matter  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  as  an  attempt  to 
involve  me  in  the  resistance  of  law,  for  which  you  hesitated 
to  assume  the  responsibility  in  orders,  and  thus  to  destroy 
my  character  before  the  country.  I  am  in  a  measure  con- 
firmed in  this  conclusion  by  your  recent  orders  directing  me 
to  disobey  orders  from  the  secretary  of  war  —  my  superior 
and  your  subordinate  —  without  having  countermanded  his 
authority  to  issue  the  orders  I  am  to  disobey.  With  the 
assurance,  Mr.  President,  that  nothing  less  than  a  vindica- 
tion of  my  personal  honor  and  character  could  have  induced 
this  correspondence  on  my  part, 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be  very  respectfully  your  obedient 
servant, 

"  U.  S.  GRANT,  General? 


88  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE   CHANGED   CONSTITUTION. 

THE  North  was  forced  by  events  to  take  ultra 
ground  on  Reconstruction.  Many  who  hesitated 
at  first  were  compelled  to  yield  their  objections. 
The  attitude  of  the  late  rebels  had  become  so 
offensive  and  unbearable,  that  popular  indignation 
was  at  white  heat.  Northern  justice  recoiled  with 
horror  at  the  saturnalia  of  blood  in  New  Orleans, 
where  Republicans,  white  and  black,  were  shot 
down  like  cattle.  "Conciliation"  sounded  farcical, 
and  "hand-shaking"  seemed  a  mockery  when  one 
political  opinion  was  reason  for  murder,  and  a 
meeting  of  freemen  the  occasion  of  massacre. 
The  press  of  the  South  was  saturated  with  venom, 
and  full  of  loathsome  abuse  of  "the  institutions 
and  people "  of  the  loyal  States.  Persecution, 
terrible  and  relentless,  was  dealt  out  to  the  loyal- 
ists of  the  South.  Sworn  testimony  gave  it  that 
"the  national  banner  is  openly  insulted,  and  the 
national  airs  scoffed  at,  not  only  by  an  igno- 
rant populace,  but  at  public  meetings."  It  was 
an  open  revolt  on  the  part  of  the  South  against 
the  proposed  methods  of  settlement,  only  sup- 
pressed by  the  superior  military  status  of  the 


THE  CHANGED   CONSTITUTION.  89 

central  government.  The  blacks  were  the  sub- 
ject of  "malicious  hatred"  by  the  whites.  The 
predjudice  against  color,  being  deep-seated,  mani- 
fested itself  in  a  "denial  of  civil  equality"  to  the 
freedmen,  and  "an  aversion  shown  towards  them 
in  an  insulting  and  cruel  manner." 

The  attempt  was  made  to  substitute  through 
legislation  the  serfdom  once  regulated  by  the  lash. 
Hostility  to  the  Federal  Union  as  it  was  compre- 
hended by  the  North;  detestation  of  Federal 
officers,  military  and  civil ;  social  ostracism  for 
Northern  settlers  in  the  South,  displayed  in  an 
open  contempt  for  "  Yankees "  by  women  and 
children,  whose  sullenness  and  scorn  were  inborn 
and  incurable,  —  were  among  the  provocations 
which  instigated  a  committee  of  Congress  to  re- 
port on  the  affairs  of  the  nation  :  "  In  return  for 
our  kind  desire  for  a  resumption  of  fraternal  rela- 
tions, we  receive  only  an  insolent  assumption  of 
rights  and  privileges  long  since  forfeited.  The 
crime  we  have  punished  is  paraded  as  a  virtue  ;  and 
the  principles  of  republican  government,  we  have 
vindicated  at  so  terrible  cost,  are  denounced  as  un- 
just and  oppressive."  This  condition  of  the  South 
so  influenced  the  North  in  the  year  1866,  that  the 
people,  with  the  force  of  great  numbers,  determined 
on  the  most  radical  method  of  Reconstruction. 
The  adoption  of  the  Amendments  was  secured 
by  the  election  of  that  year.  The  nature  of  the 
Constitution,  when  amended,  was  totally  changed. 
The  change  was  fundamental :  it  struck  deep, 


90  ABOUT  GRANT. 

and  lifted  citizenship  out  of  the  limitations  of  the 
State,  and  placed  the  life,  liberty,  protection,  and 
privileges  of  the  citizen  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  nation.  The  changed  Constitution  made  dec- 
laration to  the  effect,  that  the  flag  covered  every 
American,  whether  found  on  his  native  or  on 
foreign  soil.  It  guaranteed  to  every  qualified 
American  a  free  vote,  to  be  counted  once,  and 
but  once  in  each  instance,  when  thrown  ; .  the 
unintimidated  vote  and  the  impartial  count  to  be 
assured  with  the  whole  strength  of  the  people. 
So  citizenship,  like  territorial  unity  and  the  pub- 
lic honor,  was  to  be  the  task  of  the  sovereign 
nation,  and  not  the  affair  of  the  separate  State. 

The  American  people,  with  great  deliberation 
and  full  realization  of  the  bearing  and  consequence 
of  their  action,  changed  their  Constitution  to 
endow  with  equal  citizenship  the  black  race  whom 
their  victorious  arms  had  liberated.  Remember- 
ing the  fidelity  of  that  race  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union,  its  readiness  to  share  all  it  possessed  for 
the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  loyal  soldier ;  re- 
calling its  welcome  to  our  banners  in  a  hostile 
land,  its  service  as  guides  to  our  armies,  and 
its  contribution  to  our  exhausted  ranks  ;  knowing 
that  no  sacrifice  was  too  great  for  it  to  make, 
no  task  too  hard  to  perform,  no  watchfulness  or 
labor  too  exacting  to  render  for  loyalty,  —  the  peo- 
ple put  it  into  their  changed  Constitution,  with  all 
the  solemnity  of  the  amending  power,  that,  by  the 
organic  law,  no  rebel  should  come  back  into  the 


THE  CHANGED  CONSTITUTION.  91 

Union  on  better  terms  than  the  black  man,  who 
had  never  been  our  foe.  "  Stalwartism "  was 
born  in  this  crisis.  There  is  no  better  definition 
of  this  significant  term  than  the  following  extract 
from  Grant's  speech  at  Des  Moines  :  — 

"  Let  us  labor  for  security  of  free  thought,  free  speech, 
free  press,  pure  morals,  unfettered  religious  sentiments,  and 
equal  rights  and  privileges  for  all  men,  irrespective  of  na- 
tionality, color,  or  religion  ;  encourage  free  schools  ;  resolve, 
that  not  one  dollar  appropriated  to  them  shall  go  to  the  sup- 
port of  any  sectarian  school ;  resolve  that  neither  State  nor 
nation  shall  support  any  institution,  save  those  where  every 
child  may  get  common-school  education  unmixed  with  any 
atheistic,  pagan,  or  sectarian  teaching ;  leave  the  matter  of 
religious  teaching  to  the  family  altar,  and  keep  Church  and 
State  forever  separate." 

The  "Stalwart"  believes  in  the  civilization  of 

1 , 

the  free  States,  which  dignifies  labor,  and  main- 
tains exact  civil  equality  of  all  its  units.  At  the 
opening  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition,  a  few  years 
ago,  the  N.  Y.  "  Nation  "  said,  "  Government  is  not 
an  emblem,  a  name,  or  an  army  with  banners.  It 
is  a  bundle  of  mutual  services  ;  and  its  goodness  or 
badness,  and  the  value  of  its  contributions  to  the 
moral  growth  of  the  world,  depend  on  the  effi- 
ciency with  which  they  are  rendered.  Unless  we 
are  supplying  the  poor  and  the  rich  with  better 
justice ;  unless  we  are  striving  to  make  taxation 
lighter,  and  its  collection  simpler  and  easier ;  un- 
less we  are  discovering  modes  of  making  the  exe- 
cution of  all  the  laws  more  efficient  and  more 


92  ABOUT  GRANT. 

certain  ;  of  taking  better  care  of  the  poor  and 
insane ;  of  giving  the  young  a  better  education ; 
of  bringing  the  highest  intelligence  of  the  com- 
munity to  bear  on  legislation  and  administration ; 
of  enabling  the  weak  and  unlearned  to  feel  secure 
about  the  future ;  of  making  firmer  the  hold  of  the 
frugal  on  their  savings  ;  of  making  marriage  a 
more  honorable  and  sacred  relation,  and  children  a 
more  solemn  responsibility,  —  all  that  we  heard  on 
Tuesday  of  the  novelty  and  success  of  our  politi- 
cal system  was  a  reproach,  and  not  a  glory."  To 
this  the  "  Stalwart  "  says,  "Amen  !  "  He  accepts 
this  test  of  political  goodness  and  badness.  Be- 
cause Southern  civilization  tends  to  reproach  such 
sentiments,  he  pronounces  it  vicious,  and  hence 
unsafe.  It  is  because  free  institutions  under  loyal 
control  tend  towards  good  government  that  the 
men  who,  in  1865,  laid  down  the  duties  of  war  to 
take  up  the  duties  of  peace,  declare  for  the  loyal 
and  progressive  administration  of  affairs  as  under- 
stood by  a  majority  of  the  North. 

Grant  struck  the  key-note  of  that  political  faith 
which  is  loyal  to  the  core  and  to  the  end,  when  he 
gave  expression  to  the  desire  to  see  the  time 
"  when  the  title  of  citizen  carries  with  it  all  the 
protection  and  privileges  to  the  humblest  that  it 
does  to  the  most  exalted." 

While  Grant  is  spared  to  America  he  will  be 
regarded  as  the  grandest  living  defender  and 
exponent  of  that  civilization  founded  upon  the 


THE   CHANGED   CONSTITUTION.  93 

dignity,  equality,  and  liberty  of  man  as  man,  and 
which  finds  its  fundamental  guaranty  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  as  perfected  by  its 
late  Amendments. 


GRANT,    EIGHTEENTH   PRESIDENT. 


"  If  I  were  a  sovereign,  I  would  never  call  any  statesman  to  my  councils 
who  had  not  shown  for  one  session  he  could  be  totally  silent."  —  SIR 
ARTHUR  HELPS. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 
GRANT'S  HARDEST  BATTLE. 

THE  sovereign  people  called  Grant  to  become 
their  chief  magistrate,  —  a  man  silent  in  public, 
except  so  far  as  deeds  speak,  and  if  capable  of, 
much  averse  to,  making  addresses  of  a  popular 
character.  At  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  and  Re- 
publican Conventions  which  met  in  1868,  he  was 
nominated  by  acclamation  as  the  loyal  candidate 
for  the  presidential  office  "amid  thunders  of  ap- 
plause." Some  of  his  most  intimate  friends  im- 
plored him  not  to  accept  the  nomination  for  the 
presidency.  They  urged  as  reasons  against  it  his 
inexperience  in  civil  affairs,  and  the  probability  of 
embroilments  that  would  be  likely  to  tarnish  his 
unsullied  military  fame,  and  permanently  affect 
his  historical  reputation.  To  all  these  counsellors 
he  replied  in  effect :  "  All  you  say  is  plain  to  me. 
I  am  aware  of  the  difficulties  awaiting  any  man 
who  takes  that  position  with  its  present  complica- 
tions. I  have  no  ambition  for  the  place.  My 
profession  is  suited  to  my  tastes  and  habits.  I 
have  arrived  at  its  height,  and  been  honored  with 
a  position  to  continue  for  life,  with  a  generous 

97 


98  ABOUT  GRANT. 

compensation,  and  satisfactory  to  the  highest  aspi- 
rations of  a  soldier.  It  will  be  the  greatest  sacri- 
fice I  ever  made  to  give  this  up  for  the  turmoil  of 
the  presidential  office.  But,  if  the  people  ask  it, 
I  must  yield.  For  some  years  the  people  of 
America  have  trusted  their  sons  and  brothers  and 
fathers  to  me ;  and  every  step  taken  with  them,  in 
the  period  from  Belmont  to  Appomattox,  has  been 
tracked  in  the  best  blood  of  this  country.  If  now 
they  need  me  to  finish  the  work,  I  must  accept  the 
duty,  if  in  doing  so  I  lay  down  the  realization  of 
my  most  ambitious  hopes." 

He  was  triumphantly  elected,  and  took  the  oath 
of  office,  March  4,  1869.  His  messages,  public 
acts,  and  political  course,  since  then,  reflect  the 
best  opinion  of  the  country  on  all  matters  con- 
nected with  the  yet  unsettled  affairs  growing  out 
of  rebellion. 

GRANT   ON  PUBLIC  POLICY. 

If  elected,  "  it  will  be  my  endeavor  to  administer  all  the 
laws  in  good  faith,  with  economy,  and  with  the  view  of  giv- 
ing peace,  quiet,  and  protection  everywhere." 

His  principle  of  action  is  embodied  in  the  state- 
ment : —  t 

"A  purely  administrative  officer  should  always  be  left 
free  to  execute  the  will  of  the  people.  I  always  have 
respected  that  will,  and  always  shall." — Letter  accepting 
Nomination. 

GRANT   ON   EXECUTIVE   DUTY. 

"  On  leading  questions  agitating  the  public  mind,  I  will 
always  express  my  views  to  Congress,  and  urge  them 


GRANT'S  HARDEST  BATTLE.  99 

according  to  my  judgment ;  and,  when  I  think  it  advisable, 
will  exercise  the  constitutional  privilege  of  interposing  a 
veto  to  defeat  measures  which  I  oppose.  But  all  laws  will 
be  faithfully  executed,  whether  they  meet  my  approval  or 
not. 

"  I  shall  on  all  subjects  have  a  policy  to  recommend,  but 
none  to  enforce  against  the  will  of  the  people.  Laws  are  to 
govern  all  alike,  —  those  opposed  as  well  as  those  who  favor 
them.  I  know  no  method  to  secure  the  repeal  of  bad  or 
obnoxious  laws  so  effective  as  their  stringent  execution." 

GRANT   ON  PUBLIC   CONTROVERSIES. 

"  In  meeting  these,  it  is  desirable  they  should  be  ap- 
proached  calmly,  without  prejudice,  hate,  or  sectional  pride, 
remembering  that  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number 
is  the  object  to  be  obtained. 

"This  requires  security  of  person,  property,  and  free 
religious  and  political  opinion  in  every  part  of  our  common 
country,  without  regard  to  local  prejudice.  All  laws  to 
secure  these  ends  will  receive  my  best  efforts  for  their 
enforcement." 

GRANT  ON  FOREIGN  POLICY. 

"  I  would  deal  with  nations  as  equitable  law  requires 
individuals  to  deal  with  each  other." 

GRANT  ON   CITIZENSHIP. 

"  I  would  protect  the  law-abiding  citizen,  whether  of 
native  or  foreign  birth,  wherever  his  rights  are  jeopar- 
dized, or  the  flag  of  our  country  floats." 

GRANT   ON   THE   INDIAN. 

"I  will  favor  any  course  towards  them  which  tends  to 
their  civilization  and  ultimate  citizenship." 

GRANT   ON   INDIVIDUAL  DUTY. 

"  I  ask  patient  forbearance,  one  toward  another,  through- 
out the  land,  and  a  determined  effort  on  the  part  of  every 


100  ABOUT   GRANT. 

citizen  to  do  his  share  toward  cementing  a  happy  union ;  and 
J  ask  the  prayers  of  the  nation  to  Almighty  God  in  behalf 
of  this  consummation." 

GRANT  ON  PUBLIC  EDUCATION. 

"  The  '  Father  of  his  Country,'  in  his  farewell  address,  uses 
the  language,  '-Promote,  then,  as  a  matter  of  primary  impor- 
tance institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.' 
The  adoption  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion completes  the  greatest  civil  change,  and  constitutes  the 
most  important  event  that  has  ever  occurred  since  the 
nation  came  into  life.  The  change  will  be  beneficial  in 
proportion  to  the  heed  that  is  given  to  the  urgent  recom- 
mendation of  Washington.  If  these  recommendations  were 
important  then,  with  a  population  of  but  a  few  millions,  how 
much  more  important  now  ! 

"  I  therefore  call  upon  Congress  to  take  all  the  means 
within  their  constitutional  powers  to  promote  and  encourage 
popular  education  throughout  the  country ;  and  upon  the 
people  everywhere  to  see  to  it  that  all  who  possess  and  ex- 
ercise political  rights  shall  have  the  opportunity  to  acquire 
the  knowledge  which  will  make  their  share  in  government 
a  blessing,  and  not  a  danger.  By  such  means  only  can  the 
benefits  contemplated  by  this  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
be  secured." 

GRANT  ON  THE  TEST  OATH. 

"  I  believe  that  it  is  not  wise  policy  to  keep  from  office 
by  an  oath  those  who  are  not  disqualified  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  who  are  the  choice  of  the  legal  voters  ;  but,  while 
relieving  them  from  an  oath  which  they  cannot  take,  I 
recommend  the  release  also  of  those  to  whom  the  oath  has 
no  application." 

GRANT  ON   ASSESSMENTS. 

"The  utmost  fidelity  and  diligence  will  be  expected  of 
all  officers  in  every  branch  of  the  public  service.  Political 
assessments,  as  they  are  called,  have  been  forbidden  within 


GRANT'S  HARDEST  BATTLE.  101 

the  various  departments  ;  and,  while  the  right  of  all  persons 
in.  official  positions  to  take  part  in  politics  is  acknowledged, 
and  the  elective  franchise  is  recognized  as  a  high  trust  to 
be  discharged  by  all  entitled  to  its  exercise,  whether  in  the 
employment  of  the  government  or  in  private  life,  honesty 
and  efficiency,  not  political  activity,  will  determine  the 
tenure  of  office." 

GRANT  ON   CIVIL  RIGHTS. 

"  I  sympathize  most  cordially  in  any  effort  to  secure  for 
all  our  people,  of  whatever  race,  nativity,  or  color,  the  exer- 
cise of  those  rights  to  which  every  citizen  should  be  en- 
titled." 

GRANT  ON  THE  SUCCESSION. 

"  Past  experience  may  guide  me  in  avoiding  mistakes, 
inevitable  with  novices  in  all  professions  and  in  all  occupa- 
tions. When  relieved  from  the  responsibilities  of  my  pres- 
ent trust  by  the  election  of  a  successor,  whether  it  be  at  the 
end  of  this  term  or  the  next,  I  hope  to  leave  to  him  as  Ex- 
ecutive a  country  at  peace  within  its  own  borders,  at  peace 
with  outside  nations,  with  a  credit  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
without  embarrassing  questions  to  threaten  its  future  pros- 
perity." 

GRANT  ON   HIMSELF. 

"  I  never  sought  the  office  for  a  second,  nor  even  for  a 
first,  nomination.  To  the  first  I  was  called  from  a  life  posi- 
tion, —  one  created  by  Congress  expressly  for  me  for  sup- 
posed services  rendered  to  the  republic.  The  position  va- 
cated I  liked.  It  would  have  been  most  agreeable  to  me  to 
have  retained  it  until  such  time  as  Congress  might  have  con- 
sented to  my  retirement,  with  the  rank  and  a  portion  of  the 
emoluments  which  I  so  much  needed,  to  a  home  where  the 
balance  of  my  days  might  be  spent  in  peace  and  in  the  en- 
joyment of  domestic  quiet,  relieved  from  the  cares  which 
have  oppressed  me  so  constantly  now  for  fourteen  years. 
But  I  was  made  to  believe  that  the  public  good  called  me 
to  make  the  sacrifice. 


102  ABOUT  GRANT. 

"  Without  seeking  the  office  for  the  second  term,  the 
nomination  was  tendered  to  me  by  a  unanimous  vote  of 
the  delegates  of  all  the  States  and  Territories,  selected  by 
the  Republicans  of  each  to  represent  their  whole  number  for 
the  purpose  of  making  their  nomination.  I  cannot  say  that 
I  was  not  pleased  at  this,  and  at  the  overwhelming  indorse- 
ment which  their  action  received  at  the  election  following. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  all  the  sacrifices,  except 
that  of  comfort,  had  been  made  in  accepting  the  first  term. 
Then,  too,  such  a  fire  of  personal  abuse  and  slander  had 
been  kept  up  for  four  years,  —  notwithstanding  the  conscien- 
tious performance  of  my  duties  to  the  best  of  my  under- 
standing, though  I  admit,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events, 
many  times  subject  to  fair  criticism,  —  that  an  indorsement 
from  the  people,  who  alone  govern  republics,  was  a  gratifi- 
cation that  it  is  only  human  to  have  appreciated  and  en- 
joyed." 

Grant  made  mistakes  in  war :  his  virtue  con- 
sisted in  never  defending  or  repeating  them.  He 
erred  in  civil  administration  :  it  is  but  to  acknowl- 
edge his  humanity  to  admit  his  liability  to  stumble. 
He  had  the  military  contempt,  not  always  sound, 
for  doctrinaires  and  politicians.  He  did  not,  as 
it  would  have  been  better  for  him  to  have  done, 
consult  familiarly  public  men  who  had  done  much 
to  make  true  public  sentiment.  His  method  of 
selecting  his  cabinet  and  of  making  appointments 
will  not  stand  the  test  of  rigid  criticism.  There  is 
a  better  way  to  choose  ministers  and  high  officials 
than  because  of  their  genial  qualities  or  good  fel- 
lowship. As  ninety  per  cent  of  the  civil  list  to- 
day were  officers  under  Grant,  and  as  no  complaint 
is  made  now  in  this  direction,  it  is  apparent  in  the 


GRANT'S  HARDEST  BATTLE.  103 

main  that  his  appointments  were  judicious.  His 
mistakes  came  from  his  generous  impulses  towards 
his  personal  friends,  and  his  determination  to  stand 
by  them  against  odds.  His  reliance  upon  those 
who  had  served  with  him,  and  others  whom  he  had 
intimately  known,  was  over-confident  :  he  could  not 
discredit  them.  When,  early  in  the  war,  his  old 
instructor  at  West  Point,  who  was  in  his  command, 
had  been  reported  disloyal,  he  said,  "  Keep  out  of 
the  papers  every  thing  against  Smith.  Any  thing 
against  him  must  be  a  lie."  This  was  the  key  of 
his  adhesion  to  his  friends  through  good  and  ill 
report. 

He  sometimes  trusted  not  wisely,  but  too  well. 
The  motive  was  always  good  and  true,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  mistake.  Coming  into  civil  life 
unprepared,  save  by  natural  excellence  of  judg- 
ment, purity  of  intention,  and  firmness  of  resolve, 
his  administration  brought  the  country  each  year 
nearer  to  that  consummation  of  reduced  expenses, 
lessened  public  debt,  unquestioned  public  credit, 
and  peace  at  home  and  abroad,  to  which  he  stood 
pledged  in  assuming  his  responsibilities.  If  those 
in  whom  he  placed  confidence  were  unfaithful,  no 
one  of  his  bitterest  maligners  has  ever  yet  dared 
to  impugn  his  individual  integrity,  or  refuse  to  him 
the"  qualification  Aristides  said  "  became  a  gene- 
ral ; "  and  that  is,  "  to  have  clean  hands." 


104  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE    BESOTTED    NATION. 

ASK  any  one  of  the  professional  denunciators  of 
Grant  the  cause  of  his  opposition,  it  will  be  re- 
replied,  that  corruption  flourished,  and  the  civil 
service  was  debauched  during  his  administration. 

This  statement  cannot  be  disputed.  War  had 
unloaded  upon  the  community  a  currency  that  in 
volume  was  far  beyond  honest  business-needs,  and 
was  worth  much  less  than  its  face  value.  It  was 
the  era  of  latitude  in  morals  as  well  as  looseness 
in  political  and  commercial  dealings.  Occupants 
of  congressional  and  senatorial  seats  had  continued 
the  system,  which,  from  the  days  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son, had  been  growing  into  general  practice,  —  of 
farming  out  the  federal  patronage.  This  perni- 
cious system  had  the  effect  to  increase  the  force, 
while  it  weakened  the  standard  for  the  individual 
office-holder. 

The  temptation  to  defraud  the  revenues,  to- 
gether with  the  inefficiency  or  infidelity  of  the  offi- 
cial, led  to  an  organized  swindling.  To  protect 
the  treasury  there  were  made  many  additions  to  the 
civil  list. 

There  is  a  legend  that  the  lambs  once  got  to- 


THE  BESOTTED  NATION.  105 

gether,  and  voted  to  increase  the  number  of  dogs 
to  protect  themselves  from  the  ravenous  beasts. 
The  affair  went  on  well  until  the  beasts  were 
disposed  of ;  when,  being  hungry,  the  dogs  turned 
their  attention  to  mutton. .  So  the  flock  suffered 
more  from  the  dogs  at  last  than  from  the  beasts  at 
first.  So  with  our  government. 

"  One  bottle  of  water  will  not  be  noticed  if  I 
pour  it  into  the  rabbi's  yearly  store,"  said  a  close- 
dealing  Hebrew.  As  every  one  else  had  the  same 
thought,  and  carried  it  out,  it  was  fatal  to  the 
rabbi's  store  of  wine. 

The  same  inclination  to  be  sharp  and  to  take 
advantage,  if  not  universal,  was  very  general ; 
while  inflation  careered  among  us  with  the  mad 
recklessness  of  a  carnival.  So  lost  to  a  fine  sense 
of  honor  had  the  greater  number  of  property-hold- 
ers become,  that  the  returns  of  income,  though 
verified  by  oath,  were  deemed  incorrect  as  a  rule. 
The  grossness  and  openness  of  this  way  of  wrong- 
ing the  treasury  was  so  proverbial  and  irremedi- 
able, that  the  repeal  of  the  tax  was  demanded  on 
the  score  of  impossibility  in  procuring  just  ac- 
counts. If  those  who  had  wealth,  and  could  best 
afford  to  bear  the  heavy  burdens  of  the  nation, 
were  so  unscrupulous  as  to  rob  the  nation,  what 
could  be  expected  of  those  less  fortunate  in  pos- 
sessions, and  from  other  circumstances  less  likely 
to  be  accurate  in  keeping  books  ?  Grant  came 
to  the  presidency  when  the  spirit  of  speculation 
was  most  rife.  He  did  nothing  to  create  this 


106  ABOUT  GRANT. 

unhealthy  state  of  excess ;  and  yet  he  was  held 
responsible  for  its  continued  sway.  He  found  it 
in  existence,  and  recognized  its  danger  and  its  de- 
moralizing influence.  By  all  legitimate  means  he 
sought  to  avert  the  calamity  which  confronted  the 
country.  His  State  papers  are  full  of  caution. 

GRANT   ON    MOIETIES   AND   FLUCTUATION. 

"  The  present  laws  for  collecting  revenue  pay  collectors 
of  customs  small  salaries,  but  provide  for  moieties  (shares 
in  all  seizures),  which,  at  principal  ports  of  entry  particu- 
larly, raise-  the  compensation  of  those  officials  to  a  large 
sum.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  as  if  this  system  must, 
at  times,  work  perniciously.  It  holds  out  an  inducement  to 
dishonest  men,  should  such  get  possession  of  those  offices, 
to  be  lax  in  their  scrutiny  of  goods  entered  to  enable  them 
finally  to  make  large  seizures.  Your  attention  is  respect- 
fully invited  to  this  subject.  Continued  fluctuations  in  the 
value  of  gold,  as  compared  with  the  national  currency,  has 
a  most  damaging  effect  upon  the  increase  and  development 
of  flie  country  in  keeping  up  prices  of  all  articles  necessary 
in  every-day  life.  It  fosters  a  spirit  of  gambling,  prejudicial 
alike  to  national  morals  and  the  national  finances." 

GRANT  ON  OFFICIAL   HONESTY. 

"  It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  administration  to  enforce 
honesty  and  efficiency  in  all  public  offices.  Every  public 
servant  who  has  violated  the  trust  placed  in  him  has  been 
proceeded  against  with  all  the  rigor  of  the  law.  If  bad  men 
have  secured  places,  it  has  been  the  fault  of  the  system 
established  by  law  and  custom  for  making  appointments,  or 
the  fault  of  those  who  recommend  for  government  positions 
persons  not  sufficiently  well  known  to  them  personally,  or 
who  give  letters  indorsing  the  characters  of  office-seekers 
without  a  proper  sense  of  the  grave  responsibility  which 
such  a  course  devolves  upon  them.  A  civil-service  reform 


THE  BESOTTED  NATION.  107 

which  can  correct  this  abuse  is  much  desired.  In  mercan- 
tile pursuits,  the  business-man  who  gives  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation to  a  friend,  to  enable  him  to  obtajn  credit  from  a 
stranger,  is  regarded  as  morally  responsible  for  the  integrity 
of  his  friend  and  his  ability  to  meet  his  obligations.  A 
reformatory  law  which  would  enforce  this  principle  against 
all  indorsers  of  persons  for  public  peace,  would  insure  great 
caution  in  making  recommendations.  A  salutary  lesson  has 
been  taught  the  careless  and  the  dishonest  public  servant  in 
the  great  number  of  prosecutions  and  convictions  of  the  last 
two  years." 

GRANT  ON  THE  TENURE  OF  OFFICE. 

"An  earnest  desire  has  been  felt  to  correct  abuses  which 
have  grown  up  in  the  civil  service  of  the  country  through 
the  defective  method  of  making  appointments  to  office. 
Heretofore  federal  offices  have  been  regarded  too  much  as 
the  reward  of  political  services.  Under  authority  of  Con- 
gress, rules  have  been  established  to  regulate  the  tenure  of 
office  and  the  mode  of  appointments.  It  cannot  be  ex- 
pected that  any  system  of  rules  can  be  entirely  effective, 
and  prove  a  perfect  remedy  for  the  existing  evils,  until  they 
have  been  thoroughly  tested  by  actual  practice,  and  amended 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  service.  During  my 
term  of  office  it  shall  be  my  earnest  endeavor  to  so  apply 
the  rules  as  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  reform." 

GRANT   ON   REFORM. 

"  In  three  successive  messages  to  Congress  I  have  called 
attention  to  the  subject  of  "  civil-service  reform."  Action 
has  been  taken  so  far  as  to  authorize  the  appointment  of  a 
board  to  devise  rules  governing  methods  of  making  appoint- 
ments and  promotions ;  but  there  never  has  been  any  action 
making  these  rules  binding,  or  even  entitled  to  observance 
where  persons  desire  the  appointment  of  a  friend,  or  the 
removal  of  an  official  who  may  be  disagreeable  to  them. 
To  have  any  rules  effective,  they  must  have  the  acquiescence 
of  Congress  as  well  as  of  the  Executive.  I  commend, 


108  ABOUT  GRANT. 

therefore,  the  subject  to  your  attention,  and  suggest  that  a 
special  committee  of  Congress  might  confer  with  the  civil- 
service  board  during  the  present  session  for  the  purpose  of 
devising  such  rules  as  can  be  maintained,  and  which  will 
secure  the  services  of  honest  and  capable  officials,  and 
which  will  also  protect  them  in  a  degree  of  independence 
while  in  office.  Proper  rules  will  protect  Congress,  as  well 
as  the  Executive,  from  much  needless  persecution,  and  will 
prove  of  great  value  to  the  public  at  large  in  the  civil  ser- 
vice of  the  government;  but  it  will  require  the  direct  action 
of  Congress  to  render  the  enforcement  of  the  system  bind- 
ing upon  my  successors,  and  I  hope  that  the  experience  of 
the  past  year,  together  with  appropriate  legislation  by  Con- 
gress, may  reach  a  satisfactory  solution  of  this  question, 
and  secure  to  the  public  service,  for  all  time,  a  practical 
method  of  obtaining  faithful  and  efficient  officers  and 
employe's." 

Macaulay  says  the  ministers  of  England  during 
the  reigns  of  George  the  First  and  George  the 
Second  "were  compelled  to  reduce  corruption  to 
a  system,  and  to  practise  it  on  a  gigantic  scale." 
With  us  the  unholy  greed  for  wealth,  however  got- 
ten, like  a  virus,  had  run  through  the  veins  of  the 
body  politic.  There  were  officials,  even  secreta- 
ries, false  to  their  duty.  It  must  be  acknowl- 
edged, however,  that  corruption  came  from  the 
community,  and  seduced  the  officer,  instead  of 
being,  as  in  England,  a  constituent  part  of  the 
political  machinery.  The  public  was  the  first 
tempter.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  where  the 
importations  were  of  such  magnitude  that  proper 
superintendence  was  difficult,  the  most  intricate 
schemes  of  deceit  were  devised.  In  hosiery, 


THE  BESOTTED  NATION.  109 

gloves,  and  silks,  false  invoices  and  false  exami- 
nations were  arranged  by  collusion  ;  the  merchant 
generally  being  the  originator  of  the  trickery. 
Cargoes  of  merchandise  were  underweighted,  and 
the  margin  divided  between  importer  and  official. 
Frauds  in  sugar,  wool,  metals,  by  under-valuation, 
by  obtaining  appraisements  on  low  grades  when 
high  ones  should  have  been  rendered,  and  many 
processes  combining  ingenuity  with  dishonesty, 
were  in  daily  practice  at  the  great  ports.  A  firm 
in  the  East,  of  the  highest  reputation,  was  glad  to 
compromise  with  government  by  payment  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars. 

In  the  season  when  hair,  other  than  natural, 
was  the  rage,  one  dealer  controlled  the  market. 
He  dodged  impost  by  importing  thoroughly 
cleaned  hair  rolled  up  in  sawdust,  which  then 
passed  as  raw  hair,  and  escaped  taxation.  Taking 
the  material  to  his  warehouse,  he  merely  shook  the 
hair  free  ;  and,  putting  upon  it  the  foreign  labels 
which  had  reached  him  by  mail,  he  was  enabled  to 
drive  the  honest  merchant  out  of  the  field.  This 
offender  settled  with  government  by  handing  over 
thousands  of  dollars  purloined  in  this  manner. 

A  distinguished  public  man  came  to  the  Bos- 
ton Custom  House  with  a  certified  invoice  of  a 
watch.  The  document  had  upon  it  the  required 
consular  seal.  The  gentleman  said  the  bill  did 
not  represent  the  true  price,  and  he  wished  to  pay 
what  was  just.  The  Swiss  vender  had  written 
him  a  letter,  saying  he  had  made  out  the  account 


HO  ABOUT  GRANT. 

for  half  the  sum  paid,  "as  he  usually  did  with 
American  purchases,"  to  lessen  the  duty.  An  idea 
of  the  mercantile  morals  of  the  foreign  tourist  is 
disclosed  when  it  is  custom  to  dock  American 
bills  to  assist  in  .cheating  the  revenue.  It  was 
affirmed  by  one  of  the  highest  federal  officials  in 
New  York,  that,  from  his  experience,  there  did  not 
at  one  time  seem  to  be  a  dozen  merchants  in  that 
city  who  were  honest  with  the  government.  The 
mania  for  wealth,  and  passion  for  gain,  stimulated 
by  the  redundant  currency,  were  demonstrated 
among  all  classes.  "Corners,"  "jobs,"  "brilliant 
operations  in  the  street,"  "  land  schemes,"  "  colo- 
nizations," "railroad  enterprises,"  engrossed  the 
attention  of  men  to  liuch  a  degree,  that  they  had 
little  time  to  look  into  the  safety  or  honesty  of 
many  investments. 

The  Pathans  of  the  frontier  of  India  "neither 
lend  money  at  usury,  nor  keep  shop,"  because  the 
former  is  forbidden  by  the  Koran,  and  the  latter 
they  think  demeaning  as  an  occupation.  It  will 
be  well  for  our  republic  when  conscience  will  put 
limitations  upon  profit,  because  the  law  of  God 
requires  justice  in  all  things. 

To  resist  the  degrading  tendencies  of  the  times 
was  the  common  resolution  of  thoughtful  men. 
Reform  became  the  demand  of  the  hour.  But,  in 
working  the  reform  batteries,  some  zealous  but  in- 
discreet reformers,  instead  of  bearing  on  the  cen- 
tral motive  of  avarice  which  had  taken  possession 
of  the  besotted  nation,  turned  upon  the  President, 


THE  BESOTTED  NATION.  Ill 

and  charged  him  with  the  guilt  of  the  public  rot- 
tenness. Every  thing  abominable  was  laid  to 
"Grantism."  Did  a  combination  of  speculators 
contract  to  lay  wooden  pavements  in  Washington 
at  ruinous  cost,  it  was  all  "Grantism."  Did  West- 
ern underlings  connive  at  "  whiskey  frauds,"  again 
it  was  "  Grantism."  Did  cold-blooded  directors 
for  undue  gain  invest  the  scanty  earnings  of  the 
freedmen  in  a  scandalous  manner,  most  unjustly 
the  cry  went  up,  "  Grantism  !  " 

Hugo  revives  the  story  that  King  James  caused 
suspected  witches  to  be  boiled  in  caldrons,  and, 
tasting  the  broth,  from  its  flavor  would  pronounce 
upon  the  character  of  the  victim.  Self-appointed 
moral  censors  hurled  into  the  seething  caldron 
of  public  calumny  the  reputation  of  Grant,  and, 
tasting  the  unhallowed  brewage,  brazenly  gave 
out  that  all  the  iniquities  of  the  period  had  the 
unmistakable  flavor  of  "  Grantism."  Grant  chal- 
lenged investigation,  but  no  one  dared  to  impugn 
his  personal  purity.  Corruption  was  traced  to 
many  places  and  departments  :  none  ever  touched 
his  garments.  When  the  startling  revelations 
broke  upon  him  that  those  near  to  him,  whom  he 
had  chosen  to  uphold  his  honor  with  that  of  the 
country,  were  smirched,  though  his  heart  felt  the 
blow  of  the  betrayal,  with  the  sternness  of  Roman 
justice  he  gave  the  order,  "  Let  no  guilty  man 
escape."  The  storm  of  personal  abuse  and  the 
consolidation  of  attack  culminated  in  the  political 
campaign  of  1872.  The  people  read  the  arraign- 


112  ABOUT  GRANT. 

ment  of  his  accusers,  they  heard  the  bitter  words 
uttered  against  his  fame,  and  with  that  majestic 
emphasis  which  four  millions  of  intelligent  voting 
citizens  only  could  pronounce,  they  vindicated  the 
hero  of  their  wars,  and  bade  him  once  more  serve 
in  the  place  once  honored  by  Washington  and  -Lin- 
coln. 

Of  his  re-election  Grant  says,  — 

"  I  acknowledge  before  this  assembly,  representing  as  it 
does  every  section  of  our  country,  the  obligation  I  am  under 
to  my  countrymen  for  the  great  honor  they  have  conferred 
on  me  by  returning  me  to  the  highest  office  within  their  gift, 
and  the  further  obligation  resting  on  me  to  render  them  the 
best  services  within  my  power. 

"This"  I  promise,  looking  forward  with  the  greatest 
anxiety  to  the  day  when  I  shall  be  released  from  responsi- 
bilities that  at  times  are  almost  overwhelming,  and  from 
which  I  have  scarcely  had  a  respite  since  the  eventful  firing 
upon  Fort  Sumter,  in  April,  1861,  to  the  present  day.  My 
services  were  then  tendered,  and  accepted  under  the  first  call 
for  troops  growing  out  of  that  event.  I  did  not  ask  for  place 
or  position,  and  was  entirely  without  influence  or  the  ac- 
quaintance of  persons  of  influence,  but  was  resolved  to  per- 
form my  part  in  a  struggle  threatening  the  very  existence  of 
the  nation — a  conscientious  duty — without  asking  promotion 
or  command,  and  without  a  revengeful  feeling  towards  any 
section  or  individual. 

"Notwithstanding  this,  throughout  the  war,  and  from  my 
candidacy  for  my  present  office  in  1868,  to  the  close  of  the 
last  presidential  campaign,  I  have  been  the  subject  of  abuse 
and  slander  scarcely  ever  equalled  in  political  history,  which 
to-day  I  feel  that  I  can  afford  to  disregard  in  view  of  your 
verdict,  which  I  gratefully  accept  as  my  vindication."  —  Sec- 
ond Inaugural  Address. 


THE  BESOTTED  NATION.  113 

Benton  once  said,  "  Every  form  of  government 
has  something  in  it  to  excite  the  pride  and  to 
rouse  the  devotion  of  its  citizens.  In  monarchy 
it  is  the  authority  of  the  king ;  in  a  republic  it  is 
the  sanctity  of  the  laws." 

One  of  the  certain  tests  of  fealty  to  law  is  to 
honorably  adhere  to  public  fiduciary  obligations. 
That  test  had  its  full  trial  under  Grant's  presi- 
dency; and  the  uncertainty  attending  Republican 
integrity  was  settled,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  finally.  The 
inviolability  of  public  faith,  giving  as  it  does  the 
highest  evidence  of  national  character,  was  the 
crowning  feature  of  his  administration.  The  dan- 
ger that  threatened  the  public  faith  prior  to  1868 
led  the  loyal  people  to  select  Grant  as  the  candidate 
most  sure  to  receive  popular  support. 

During  his  eight  years  of  service,  so  steadily 
had  the  public  debt  been  reduced,  so  rigidly  had 
our  engagements  with  the  public  creditor  been 
kept,  so  judiciously  had  the  public  burdens  been 
lessened  by  funding  at  low  rates  of  interest  and 
decreased  expenditure,  that  the  public  credit  never 
stood,  up  to  that  time,  so  high  in  the  estimation  of 
the  world  as  when  Grant  turned  over  to  his  suc- 
cessor the  presidential  office. 


H4  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

THE  OLD  FIGHT  IN  A  NEW  FORM. 

NATURAL  leaders  of  the  South,  unable  to  pre- 
vent the  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amend- 
ments, combined  to  render  them  inoperative.  To 
neutralize  in  that  locality  the  special  features  of 
war  legislation  relative  to  the  constitutional  stand- 
ing of  the  freed  race  —  to  restore  the  Democratic 
party  to  national  control  —  became  the  effort  and 
ambition  of  Southern  politics.  The  political 
vacuum  caused  by  absence  of  influential  white 
Southerners  from  States  where  the  emancipated 
class  were  an  equal  number  or  a  majority,  was- 
filled  by  a  class  of  men  termed  in  derision  "  carpet- 
baggers." There  were  whites —  some  natives,  but 
more  "new-comers  "  —  who  defied  the  old  Southern 
rule  and  sentiment,  and  cast  their  lot  politically 
with  the  blacks.  To  overthrow  power  thus  ob- 
tained, the  standard  of  "  home  rule "  was  raised, 
and  was  made  the  shibboleth  of  the  "lost  cause" 
in  its  revived  condition. 

The  old  war-yell  of  independence  was  exchanged 
for  the  new  peace-yell  of  "local  government." 

It  is  still  an  "irrepressible  conflict;"  and  God 
means  that  it  shall  be  so  until  free  institutions, 


THE  OLD  FIGHT  IN  A   NEW  FORM.         115 

and  justice  to  the  negro,  shall  exist  throughout  the 
land.  To  say  that  such  justice  now  exists,  is  to  lie 
before  men  and  before  Heaven. 

A  political  confederacy  of  repudiating  States ; 
the  disappearance  in  a  few  years  of  Republican 
majorities  by  the  "shot-gun  policy;"  and  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi  lined  with  fleeing  blacks, 
upheld  by  thoughts  as  grand  as  those  which  nerved 
the  Hebrew  exodus,  make  false  all  assertions  of 
Southern  freedom  or  its  justice.  "Better  die  in 
Kansas  free  than  live  in  the  South  slaves,"  said 
a  black  refugee ;  and  the  sentiment  gives  promise 
that  the  race  which  holds  to  such  ideas  will  yet 
have  its  rights. 

May  God  help  it  to  that  end,  and  may  he  help 
us  to  help  it !  "  The  New-Orleans  Times  "  has 
this  incident :  — 

"  There  was  an  episode  in  the  convention  a  day  or  two  ago 
which  ought  to  be  preserved  in  history.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  Mr.  T.  T.  Allain,  a  colored  delegate  from  West 
Baton  Rouge  or  Iberville,  made  a  remarkably  able  and 
sensible  speech  in  opposition  to  the  abolition  of  the  office 
of  superintendent  of  public  education.  As  soon  as  he  con-* 
eluded,  Mr.  McGloin,  of  one  of  the  up-town  wards  of  New 
Orleans,  arose,  and  offered  a  resolution  that  his  speech  be 
translated  into  all  the  known  languages  and  dialects  for  the 
information  and  guidance  of  humanity.  We  did  not  notice 
whether  any  one  laughed.  Mr.  Allain  at  once  took  the  floor, 
and  said,  — 

"'Mr.  Chairman,  I  was  formerly  a  slave.  The  results 
of  the  war  emancipated  me,  and  simultaneously  placed  me 
under  the  obligation  of  fitting  myself  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  citizenship.  While  the  gentleman  from  Orleans  was  per- 


Il6  ABOUT  GRANT. 

fecting  himself  in  all  those  languages  to  which  he  refers,  I 
was  picking  cotton.  The  years  that  I  spent  in  picking 
cotton  he  devoted  to  his  moral  and  intellectual  improve- 
ment; yet  I  think  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  that  he 
might  have  put  his  varied  accomplishments  to  a  more 
creditable  use  than  in  thus  striving  to  ridicule  and  deride 
me  in  my  effort  to  promote  an  end  I  consider  right  and 
proper.' " 

Just  men  believe  in  the  Allains  more  than  the 
McGloins. 

From  various  public  documents  written  by 
Grant,  we  take  the  following  extracts : 

"  Mississippi  is  governed  to-day  by  officials  chosen 
through  fraud  and  violence,  such  as  would  scarcely  be 
accredited  to  savages,  much  less  to  a  civilized  and  Christian 
people." 

To  Gov.  Chamberlain  of  South  Carolina  he 
says,  — 

"  Go  on  in  the  conscientious  discharge  of  duties  to  the 
humblest  as  well  as  to  the  proudest  citizen,  and  I  will  give 
every  aid  for  which  I  can  find  law  or  constitutional  power." 

Thus,  during  the  administration  of  Grant,  the 
States  where  the  black  race  balanced  or  out- 
numbered the  white  were  politically  in  posses- 
sion of  the  loyal  party. 

That  party  was  composed  of  a  race  reared  in 
slavery — therefore  unused  to  responsibility — and 
of  a  portion  of  the  white  race,  from  both  North 
and  South,  who  held  Republican  views  from  prin- 


THE  OLD  FIGHT  IN  A   NEW  FORM.         117 

ciple,  but  were  inclined  in  many  cases  to  use  power 
for  self-interest.  Legislation  coming  from  such 
sources  was  sure  to  be  improvident.  Often  wild 
in  its  extravagance,  and  sometimes  unjust  in  its 
nature,  it  could  not  but  be  a  failure.  This  phase 
of  affairs,  under  the  attempt  to  project  a  new  race 
into  the  experiment  of  civilization,  was  as  much  a 
natural  phenomenon  as  the  half-light  of  the  dawn 
that  comes  between  night  and  day. 

In  this  experiment  the  old  rulers  of  the  South 
were  set  against  the  old  slaves  and  their  new 
friends,  and  in  all  ways  resisted  their  authority. 

Such  a  political  soil  was  ready  to  receive  the 
seed  of  inflation.  Black  Republicans  expected  to 
become  learned  by  large  outlays  for  educational 
purposes.  The  whites  of  the  party  hoped  to  get 
rich  by  putting  the  credit  of  the  State  into  rail- 
road projects;  in  this  they  were  not  sinners 
above  all  other  men.  In  peculation,  pure  and  sim- 
ple, one  year  of  Democratic  robbery  in  the  city  of 
New  York  amounted  to  more  than  the  entire  sum 
of  theft  perpetrated  in  all  the  States  of  the  South 
in  all  the  time  they  were  in  Republican  hands. 

There  is  no  form  of  Republican  government 
possible,  but  in  the  agreement  to  obey  the  will  of 
the  majority  "for  better  or  worse."  Republics,  if 
they  continue  republics,  like  water  in  motion, 
will  finally  run  clear. 

It  was  the  duty  of  Grant,  under  his  oath  of 
office,  to  sustain  the  States,  into  whatever  hands 
they  came,  by  legal  operation.  He  did  so  with 


Il8  ABOUT  GRANT. 

the  power  he  had  through  the  "  appropriate  legis- 
lation "  of  Congress. 

He  regretted  the  mistakes  and  misdeeds  of  the 
Southern  Republicans ;  but  he  had  more  faith  for 
the  ultimate  prosperity  of  that  section  in  the 
Republican  than  in  the  "old"  party. 

"Home  rule"  became  the  policy  of  the  "old" 
South.  It  meant  this :  wherever  there  was  a 
Republican  majority,  to  shoot  that  majority  down, 
or  "  terrorize  "  it  until  the  ^Republican  excess  was 
reduced  to  a  minority. 

Then  came  the  domination  of  the  lawless 
South.  The  planters  were  stocked  with  the  most 
improved  rifles,  and  used  them  in  the  service  of 
"  home  rule." 

The  authority  of  the  United  States  was  openly 
defied,  the  loyal  judiciary  was  imperilled,  and 
home  rule  flourished  amid  the  rattle  of  shot-guns, 
the  thud  of  the  rifle-ball,  and  the  light  of  burning 
churches  and  schoolhouses,  with  which  the  vandals 
of  the  South  made  lurid  the  Southern  sky. 

To  meet  this  emergency  Grant  asked  for  "ap- 
propriate legislation "  to  combat  unlawful  with 
lawful  force. 

For  the  first  time  the  people  failed  him,  and  his 
arms  were  pinioned. 

The  panic  of  1873  had  created  consternation 
and  havoc  in  politics. 

The  election  of  1874  went  against  the  adminis- 
tration. 

"  Change  for  the  sake  of  change,"  was  a  com- 
mon demand. 


THE   OLD  FIGHT  IN  A   NEW  FORM.         119 

Pity  for  the  "  home  rulers  "  was  a  rallying  cry 
with  all  Democrats  and  some  weak  Northern 
Republicans. 

Conventions  and  mass-meetings  were  convened 
in  the  principal  cities  to  give  the  South  fair  play  ; 
that  is,  where  there  were  three  blacks  and  two 
whites,  to  see  to  it  that  the  whites  governed  "  any- 
how." 

As  all  the  evils  of  corruption  in  the  North  had 
been  laid  to  "Grantism,"  so  all  the  debts,  disas- 
ters, and  disorganization  of  the  South  were  claimed 
to  be  due  to  the  "  carpet-bagger  "  and  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  Grant. 

The  popular  vote  of  1874,  with  regard  to  non- 
interference by  federal  force  with  local  govern- 
ment, may  be  considered  irrevocable.  Right  or 
wrong,  it'must  be  deemed  an  ultimate  decision. 

There  is  a  fable  that  a  northern  race  of  ele- 
phants in  India  have  all  the  size,  but  not  quite 
the  wisdom,  of  their  kind.  One  of  this  class  was 
elected  to  govern  the  animal  kingdom.  The 
wolves  got  from  him  permission  to  take  a  little 
wool  from  the  sheep  to  protect  themselves  from 
the  cold  winter.  The  sheep  made  complaint  that 
they  were  being  outraged  by  this  "  home  rule  "  of 
the  northern  elephant.  •  In  defence  the  wolves 
said  the  sheep  were  making  an  unnecessary  fuss : 
"All  they  took  in  a  whole  year  was  a  single  fleece" 
—  "Well,  well,"  said  the  Bourbon  elephant,  "I 
will  have  no  injustice  done.  Take  one  fleece  from 
each,  but  not  a  hair  more" 


120  ABOUT  GRANT. 

The  following  is  a  specimen  of  the  workings  of 
"home  rule :"  — 

The  Hamburgh  massacre  took  place  in  1876. 
Its  leader  is  now  a  United-States  senator  from 
South  Carolina. 

In  1875  a  committee  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  investigated  the  affairs  of  Mississippi.  The 
conclusion  of  the  report  says,  — 

"  The  evidence  shows  further  that  the  State  of  Missis- 
sippi is  at  present  under  the  control  of  political  organiza- 
tions composed  largely  of  armed  men,  whose  common  pur- 
pose is  to  deprive  the  negroes  of  the  free  exercise  of  the 
right  of  suffrage,  and  to  establish  and  maintain  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  white-line  Democracy  in  violation  alike  of  the 
Constitution  of  their  own  State  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States." 

Murder  for  political  opinions,  and  denial  of  con- 
stitutional rights  to  the  blacks,  have  ended  in  the 
present  voluntary  exile  of  the  freedmen. 

Seeing  their  lot  becoming  harder  each  year,  that 
less  provision  in  many  States  is  made  for  their 
education,1  and  that  their  fate  under  the  present 

i  "  How  ARKANSAS  NEGROES  ARE  KEPT  IGNORANT.  —  All  the  ne- 
groes of  the  county  are  congregated  in  Bentonville,  where  their  children 
are  growing  up  in  ignorance.  The  school  law  of  the  State  makes  some 
nominal  provision  for  negro  schools  ;  but  they  have  no  school  building,  and 
I  believe  they  never  had  a  school.  The  class  of  negroes  that  hang 
around  the  outskirts  of  a  town  are  seldom  of  any  consequence  ;  and  those 
of  Bentonville  are  no  exception.  The  men  drink  what  whiskey  they  can 
get,  do  a  little  gardening  for  a  mere  song,  run  errands,  and  serve  as  scape- 
goats for  all  the  petit  larcenies  perpetrated  for  miles  around.  In  fact,  all 
the  stealing  is  accredited  to  '  them  niggers ;  '  but  I  noticed  that  there 
were  no  '  niggers  '  before  the  grand  jury  for  any  offence,  while  there  were 
several  clear-blooded  Caucasians,  to  the  manner  born,  lying  in  jail  await- 
ing trial.  "  —  Cor.  Troy  Times. 


THE  OLD  FIGHT  IN  A   NEW  FORM.        1 21 

rule  will  certainly  reduce  them  to  virtual  peonage, 
they  are  striking  out  for  a  better  country.  The 
exodus  is  the  legitimate  result  of  "  home  rule." 

On  the  Qth  of  June,  1879,  the  papers,  referring 
to  the  exodus,  remarked  that,  — 

"  Between  Baton  Rouge  in  Louisiana  and  St.  Louis  in 
Missouri,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  River,  are  a  large 
number  of  companies  of  black  people,  —  men,  women,  and 
children,  —  who  have  sold  all  they  had,  and  started  on  an 
emigration  to  the  West.  The  number  is  estimated  at  near- 
ly eight  thousand.  The  places  of  their  bivouac  are  per- 
fectly known  by  correspondence.  The  people  have  left 
home,  and  are  now  simply  waiting  for  the  means  of  travel. 
They  are  starving  while  they  wait.  They  are  in  unfriendly 
surroundings.  They  supposed  they  were  American  citizens, 
with  the  rights  of  American  citizens.'  But  it  proves  that 
certain  steamboat-captains  take  the  privilege  of  deciding 
whether  they  ought  to  emigrate,  or  ought  not,  and  leave 
them,  by  their  decision,  to  die  where  they  are." 

These  facts  justify  the  statement  that  the  South 
is  unchanged,  or,  more  correctly,  the  statement 
that  her  last  state  in  some  features  is  worse  than 
the  first.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  evi- 
dence of  unpunished  murderers  of  black  and  white 
Republicans  stamps  as  a  base  mockery  the  phan- 
tom of  Southern  justice,  that  the  obliteration  of  a 
vast  political  organization  by  the  peremptory  appli- 
cation of  powder  and  bullet  brands  as  an  infamous 
falsehood  the  plea  of  equal  rights. 

One  thing  more  should  be  remembered.  From 
the  tongue  of  no  prominent  Southern  man  has 
ever  come  an  acknowledgment  of  wrong-doing  in 


122  ABOUT  GRANT. 

forcing  war  on  this  nation.  To  utter  such  a  senti- 
ment would  deprive  the  statesman  who  avowed  it 
of  social  and  political  standing.  Why  speak  of  a 
consistent  peace  when  the  righteousness  of  the  act 
which  procured  it  is  denied  by  the  solid  South  ? 

At  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill,  every  effort  was  made  by  New 
England  to  welcome  the  South.  Distinguished 
guests  from  that  section  were  entertained  with  the 
hospitality  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  and  the 
city  of  Boston.  Spacious  halls  decorated  with 
floral  loveliness  were  open  to  the  reception  of  our 
Southern  fellow-citizens.  A  hundred  thousand 
voices  cheered  them  as  they  were  recognized  in 
the  moving  pageant.  Yet  no  warmth  of  hospi- 
tality could  win  from  the  Southern  visitors  the 
admission  that  to  fight  to  break  up  a  free  gov- 
ernment, and  to  build  up  a  slave  government,  was 
wrong  of  itself. 

The  same  public  sentiment  at  home  that  closes 
the  gangway  of  the  steamer  to  the  fleeing  freed- 
men  closes  the  lips  of  the  representative  of  the 
"solid  South"  at  Bunker  Hill  or  at  Washington 
to  the  confession  that  liberty  for  all  is  a  diviner 
principle  than  liberty  for  some. 

In  a  letter  to  Gov.  Chamberlain  of  South  Caro- 
lina, written  in  July,  1876,  Grant  advised  him  to 
continue  the  conscientious  discharge  of  his  duties. 
He  stated  with  precision  the  whole  scope  of  con- 
stitutional power,  saying,  "  A  government  that 
cannot  give  protection  to  the  life,  property,  and  all 


THE  OLD  FIGHT  IN  A   NEW  FORM.        123 

guaranteed  civil  rights  (in  this  country  the  greatest 
is  an  untrammelled  ballot)  to  the  citizen,  is  so  far 
a  failure,  and  every  energy  of  the  oppressed  should 
be  exerted  (always  within  the  law  and  by  constitu- 
tional means)  to  regain  lost  privileges  or  protec- 
tion." 

To-day  there  is  no  government  in  a  majority  of 
the  Southern  States  to  protect  the  life,  liberty,  or 
ballot  of  the  minority. 

In  the  old  Byzantine  wars  the  conquerors  chained 
their  captives  together  in  bands,  and  pierced  their 
eyeballs  with  red-hot  irons.  To  the  leader  they 
would  spare  a  single  eye,  that  he  might  guide  his 
forlorn  and  sightless  companions  to  their  moun- 
tain homes. 

Unless  the  Providence  of  God  intervenes  to 
create  a  new  and  better  political  sentiment  in  the 
South,  the  inhuman  discipline  of  "  home  rule " 
will  blind  with  ignorance  and  fetter  with  debt  the 
doomed  blacks,  until,  losing  heart  and  hope,  they 
will  slowly  wander  back  to  the  degradation  of  that 
bondage  from  which  it  was  thought  they  had 
mercifully  escaped. 


GRANT  AND    CONSTITUTIONAL 
MONEY. 


"Congress  shall  have  power  .  .  . 

"  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ;  .  .  . 
"  To  coin  money,  regulate  value  thereof."  —  Constitution,  of  the  United 
States. 

"  I  am  not  a  believer  in  any  artificial  method  of  making  paper  money 
equal  to  coin  when  the  coin  is  not  owned  or  held  ready  to  redeem  the 
promises  to  pay;  for  paper  money  is  nothing  more  than  promises  to 
pay."  — GRANT'S  Veto  Message  on  the  Senate  Currency  Bill. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE   WAR   DOLLAR. 

THE  campaign  of  1868  was  the  beginning  of  a 
contest  over  public  honesty  not  yet  ended.  The 
platform  of  the  Democratic  party  submitted  that, 
"  Where  the  obligations  of  the  government  do  not 
expressly  state  upon  their  face,  or  the  law  under 
which  they  were  passed  does  not  provide,  that 
they  shall  be  paid  in  coin,  they  ought,  in  right  and 
in  justice,  to  be  paid  in  the  lawful  money  of  the 
United  States."  This  meant  to  force  the  ex- 
change of  interest-bearing  bonds  for  "  green- 
backs "  not  carrying  interest.  It  was  on  that 
direct  issue,  keeping  faith  or  breaking  it,  that  the 
battle  was  fought.  The  incentive  of  the  Demo- 
cratic action  was  the  belief  that  men  had  a  nat- 
ural bias  for  cheating,  and  would  gladly  avoid 
paying  their  debts  if  possible. 

As  the  greenback  stated  on  its  face  that  it  could 
legally  satisfy  all  debts  but  interest  and  imposts, 
Democrats  held  that  it  could  discharge  public 
obligations.  The  most  debasing  appeals  to  cupid- 
ity and  prejudice  were  made. 

It  was  asked  if  the  glutted  bondholder  should 

127 


128  ABOUT  GRANT. 

have  coin,  and  the  hard-fisted  ploughholder  should 
have  paper  ?  It  was  openly  said  that  the  bonds 
were  owed  abroad,  and  "who  cares  if  foreigners 
are  not  paid?"  It  was  urged  that  the  interest 
already  paid  had  in  some  cases  amounted  to  as 
much  as  had  been  received  for  the  bonds ;  and  so 
to  "square  off"  would  be  about  right.  Republi- 
cans marched  under  the  banners  of  public  faith. 
Their  fight  is  thus  described :  "  On  the  one  side 
are  loyal  multitudes,  and  the  generous  freedmen 
who  bared  themselves  to  danger  as  our  allies,  with 
Grant  still  at  their  head ;  and  on  the  other  side 
are  rebels  under  the  name  of  the  Democratic 
party." 

Republicans  said,  no  matter  if,  by  a  quibble,  we 
could  slink  out  of  the  legal  obligation  to  pay  the 
bonds  in  coin  :  morally  we  were  bound  so  to  do, 
inasmuch  as  all  parties  at  the  time  understood 
the  contract  in  that  way.  The  people  declared 
their  preference  to  be  honest,  and  pay  their  debts 
when  within  their  power.  After  pouring  out  the 
life-blood  of  the  nation  because  they  chose  to 
fight  rather  than  violate  conscience,  they  spurned 
the  temptation  to  wrong  those  who  had  loaned 
money  to  carry  on  the  war,  by  taking  advantage 
of  a  flaw  or  omission  in  the  bond.  The  people 
elected  Grant  on  the  basis  of  honest  payment. 

"A  great  debt  has  been  contracted  in  securing  to  us 
and  our  posterity  the  Union.  The  payment  of  this,  princi- 
pal and  interest,  as  well  as  the  return  to  specie  basis  as  soon 
as  it  can  be  accomplished  without  material  detriment  to  the 


THE   WAR  DOLLAR.  129 

debtor  class,  or  the  country  at  large,  must  be  provided  for. 
To  protect  the  national  honor,  every  dollar  of  government 
indebtedness  should  be  paid  in  gold,  unless  otherwise  ex- 
pressly stipulated  in  the  contract.  Let  it  be  understood 
that  no  repudiator  of  one  farthing  of  our  public  debt  will 
be  trusted  in  public  place,  and  it  will  go  far  towards  strength- 
ening a  credit  which  ought  to  be  the  best  in  the  world,  and 
will  ultimately  enable  us  to  replace  the  debt  with  bonds 
bearing  less  interest  than  we  now  pay." 

So  said  Grant  in  his  first  inaugural,  and  it  led 
to  the  passage  of  the  Public  Credit  Act :  — 

"  That  in  order  to  remove  any  doubt  as  to  the  purpose 
of  the  government  to  discharge  all  just  obligations  to  the 
public  creditors,  and  to  settle  conflicting  questions  and  inter- 
pretations of  the  law  by  virtue  of  which  such  obligations 
have  been  contracted,  it  is  hereby  provided  and  declared, 
that  the  faith  of  the  United  States  is  solemnly  pledged  to 
the  payment  in  coin,  or  its  equivalent,  of  all  the  obligations 
of  the  United  States  not  bearing  interest,  known  as  United- 
States  notes,  and  of  all  the  interest-bearing  obligations  of 
the  United  States,  except  in  cases  where  the  law  authoriz- 
ing the  issue  of  any  such  obligation  has  expressly  provided 
that  the  same  may  be  paid  in  lawful  money,  or  other  cur- 
rency than  gold  and  silver ;  but  none  of  said  interest-bearing 
obligations  not  already  due  shall  be  redeemed  or  paid  before 
maturity  unless  at  such  time  United-States  notes  shall  be 
convertible  into  coin  at  the  option  of  the  holder,  or  unless 
at  such  time  bonds  of  the  United  States  bearing  a  lower 
rate  of  interest  than  the  bonds  to  be  redeemed  can  be  sold 
at  par  in  coin.  And  the  United  States  also  solemnly  pledges 
its  faith  to  make  provision  at  the  practicable  period  for  the 
redemption  of  the  United-States  notes  in  coin." 

This  may  be  termed  the  loyal  creed  of  honesty. 
It  was  carried  over  millions  of  Democratic  ballots, 


130  ABOUT  GRANT. 

and  but  for  the  personal  popularity  of  Grant  might 
not  have  been  so  triumphant. 

The  currency  of  the  war  was  not  money,  and 
did  not  purport  to  be  any  thing  but  the  best 
substitute  in  the  place  of  money,  that,  in  the  exi- 
gencies that  existed,  could  be  devised.  It  was  a 
promise  to  the  holder  to  produce  money  at  the 
option  of  the  maker  of  the  promise.  Its  excuse 
for  being  was  the  peril  of  the  land.  "  Any  thing 
is  constitutional  to  save  the  country,"  said  Lincoln 
when  they  told  him  his  call  for  troops  was  uncon- 
stitutional. It  was  on  that  principle  that  the 
"  legal-tender  "  note  became  the  war  dollar. 

The  country  had  to  pay  dearly  for  this  intro- 
duction of  paper  currency.  While  war  was  de- 
stroying vast  amounts  of  property,  the  use  of 
vast  amounts  of  this  paper  medium  was  required. 
When  the  destruction  by  war  ceased,  the  paper 
volume  was  employed  in  piling  up  personal  prop- 
erty of  all  kinds. 

There  was  an .  overstock  of  railroads,  mills, 
buildings,  manufactured  articles,  which  made  an 
unnatural  demand  for  labor  at  impossible  wages. 

A  crash  came,  calamitous  in  its  suspension  of 
all  departments  of  industry,  fearful  in  its  contrac- 
tion of  estimates,  deplorable  in  its  mercantile  de- 
pression. It  swept  away  incomes,  drove  labor  to 
the  wall,  and  caused  want  and  hunger  to  .come 
to  centres  of  population,  and  poverty  to  visit 
homes  where  comfort  and  luxury  had  always  been 
enjoyed.  The  prostration  of  thrift  and  commerce 


THE    WAR  DOLLAR.  131 

was  the  price  paid  for  attempting  to  employ 
in  peace  a  currency  made  by  and  absorbed'  in 
war.  Though  we  are  now  recovering  from  the 
disheartening  consequences  of  the  late  painful 
business  trials,  another  misfortune  came  with  paper 
currency,  from  which  we  have  not  yet  rallied  and 
are  not  soon  likely  to  rally.  It  created  an  appetite 
for  permanent  inflation.  It  gave  rise  to  a  wild 
financial  school.  They  who  found  it  "against 
their  principle  to  pay  interest,"  or  against  their 
"interest  to  pay  principal,"  rallied  for  a  paper  mil- 
lennium. The  heaviest  curse  produced  by  paper 
currency  was  the  popular  folly  which  demanded 
the  political  or  paper  dollar  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change. 


132  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

THE    FIAT    DOLLAR. 

THE  friends  of  the  "fiat"  dollar  boldly  said 
their  dollar  must  be  worthless  in  itself,  but  should 
pass  as  the  circulating  medium  of  barter  between 
man  and  man  by  the  sheer  power  of  the  majority. 
Law,  they  told  us,  gives  to  money  its  function,  and 
it  can  give  function  to  any  thing. 

It  was  a  device,  we  were  told,  of  the  capitalist, 
that  money  shall  possess  value.  Valuable  money 
is  hoarded.  Valueless  money  has  the  faculty  to  be 
got  rid  of,  and  that  makes  things  lively.  A  late 
utterance  of  a  Solon  of  "  fiat "  was  :  "  At  the  pres- 
ent time  the  gold  dollar  of  the  money-king  has  a 
purchasing  power  from  forty  to  sixty  per  cent 
greater  than  before  the  war.  At  the  present  time 
the  masses  do  not  have  the  necessary  money  to 
purchase  the  goods  which  now  glut  the  market." 
It  is  an  essential  tenet  of  communism,  that  when 
the  individual  is  short  of  any  thing  the  State  shall 
furnish  it.  The  soul  of  the  "  fiat  dollar  "  is  com- 
munistic. 

In  a  country  where  suffrage  is  universal,  the 
vote  must  represent  false  or  true  principles  of 
action.  The  voter  here  is  undergoing  some  kind 


THE  FIAT  DOLLAR.  133 

of  education.  More  extensively  than  ever  before, 
among  the  great  army  of  the  "dissatisfied,"  among 
the  mechanics  who  are  sullen  from  struggle  with 
life,  among  the  merchants,  speculators,  and  manip- 
ulators, who  remember  the  "  kiting "  days  of  the 
past,  the  seeds  of  communism  are  being  scattered 
profusely,  and  are  taking  root.  The  literature  of 
the  International  is  freely  disseminated ;  and  the 
most  flagrant  pandering  to  the  envy  and  jeal- 
ousy of  those  who  have  little,  against  those  who 
have  much,  is  the  outgrowth  of  that  communistic 
spirit  which  with  us  flourishes  wherever  the  paper 
theory  succeeds.  Fiat  conventions  do  not  put 
communism  in  their  platforms,  but  their  private 
conversation  reeks  with  the  foul  heresy. 

Tell  a  fiat  enthusiast  that  the  Constitution  is 
adverse  to  his  opinions,  —  that  Congress  has  only 
power  to  "coin  money,"  —  he  will  tell  you  that  he 
interprets  the  Constitution  to  have  the  implied 
power  to  do  every  thing  for  the  people  that  has 
not  in  that  document  been  forbidden  by  the  people. 

A  man  bought  a  horse  of  a  church-member, 
and  found  he  was  spavined.  He  went  to  him,  and 
asked,  "  Are  you  a  Christian  ?  " 

"  Well,  yes,  I  think  I  am." 

"  Do  you  read  the  Bible  ? " 

"I  do." 

"You  had  better  read  it  again." 

"Why?" 

"You  sold  me  a  horse  with  spavin." 

"You  look  here.     You  just  go  over  the  Bible 


134  ABOUT  GRANT. 

yourself,  and,  if  you  find  one  word  in  it  where  a 
Christian  is  required  to  mention  spavin  in  connec- 
tion with  a  horse-trade,  I'll  take  him  back." 

The  paper  financier,  not  finding  a  word  in  the 
Constitution  that  says  Congress  shall  not  make 
paper  money,  says  Congress  can  and  shall  make  a 
"greenback." 

The  disciples  of  inflation  might  learn  a  lesson 
from  the  story  of  Ulysses. 

When  about  to  start  homeward  after  tarrying 
with  the  God  of  Winds,  to  hasten  his  journey 
Eolus  tied  the  contrary  winds  in  a  bag,  — 

"  With  a  bright  chain  of  silver,  that  no  breath 
Of  ruder  air  might  blow.     He  only  left 
The  west  wind  free  to  waft  our  ships  and  us 
Upon  our  way." 

The  travellers  had  come  almost  in  sight  of  their 
native  shore;  and,  while  Ulysses  slept,  the  sailors 
complained  that  wherever  they  had  been  together, 
"  rich  gifts  of  gold  and  silver  "  had  been  tendered 
to  the  chief  alone,  though  all  had  shared  the  perils 
of  the  voyage.  Curiosity  led  them  to  examine  the 
concealed  treasure. 

"  Thus  speaking  to  each  other,  they  obeyed 
The  evil  counsel.     They  untied  the  sack, 
And  straight  the  winds  rushed  forth,  and  seized  the  ship, 
And  swept  the  crews,  lamenting  bitterly, 
Far  from  their  country,  out  upon  the  deep." 

There  is  no  need  to  "point  this  moral:"  to 
"  adorn  the  tale  "  is  a  hopeless  task. 


THE  FIA  T  DOLLAR.  135 

The  war  currency  had  no  support  from  Grant  in 
its  unredeemed  state.  He  said,  — 

"Fluctuation,  in  the  paper  value  of  the  measure  of  all 
values  (gold),  is  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  trade.  It 
makes  the  man  of  business  an  involuntary  gambler ;  for,  in 
all  sales  where  future  payment  is  to  be  made,  both  parties 
speculate  as  to  what  will  be  the  value  of  the  currency  to  be 
paid  and  received.  I  earnestly  recommend  to  you,  then, 
such  legislation  as  will  insure  a  gradual  return  to  specie 
payments,  and  put  an  immediate  stop  to  fluctuations  in  the 
value  of  currency." — Inaugural.,  1869. 


136  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

THE   HONEST   DOLLAR. 

IN  his  first  message  Grant  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  "among  the  evils  growing  out  of  the 
Rebellion,  is  that  of  an  irredeemable  currency.  It 
is  an  evil  which  I  hope  will  receive  your  earliest 
attention.  It  is  a  duty,  and  one  of  the  highest 
duties,  of  government,  to  secure  to  the  citizen  a 
medium  of  exchange  of  fixed,  unvarying  value. 
This  implies  a  return  to  specie  basis,  and  no  sub- 
stitute for  it  can  be  devised." 

In  1875  a  law  was  passed  containing  the  clause, 
"On  and  after  the  first  day  of  January,  Anno 
Domini  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  redeem,  in  coin, 
the  United-States  legal-tender  notes  then  out- 
standing, on  their  presentation  for  redemption  at 
the  office  of  the  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  sums  of  not 
less  than  fifty  dollars." 

Most  extraordinary  pressure  was  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  President,  to  induce  him  to  with- 
hold his  signature  from  the  Resumption  Bill. 

Many  of  Grant's  warmest  personal  friends  were 
ardent  inflationists.  Eminent  bankers,  leading 


THE  HONEST  DOLLAR.  137 

merchants,  men  with  the  care  of  great  railroad 
enterprises,  by  petition,  by  personal  appeal,  by 
letter,  and  by  telegraph,  warned  him  of  ruin  to  the 
country  by  forcing  resumption. 

Prominent  Republicans  doubted  the  policy  of 
naming  a  day  when  we  should  redeem.  It  was 
derided  as  a  party  dodge  and  a  visionary  scheme. 
Not  for  one  moment  did  Grant  waver.  He  felt 
that  if  the  occasion  slipped  by,  it  might  not  come 
again.  The  bill  was  right.  The  vital  interests  of 
the  country  demanded  that  we  should  come  back  to 
financial  sanity.  The  honor  of  the  people  could 
only  be  maintained  by  redeeming  their  outstand- 
ing pledges.  By  his  act  the  bill  became  law,  and 
because  of  that  act  resumption  is  now  an  accom- 
plished fact.  It  was  among  the  last  acts  of  special 
importance  in  his  administration,  and  was  the  con- 
summation of  a  recommendation  made  by  him  in 
his  first  state  paper.  It  was  the  finality  of  the 
war  currency;  and  by  this  act  the  American  peo- 
ple once  more  had  a  circulation  convertible  into 
specie,  the  honest,  constitutional  money  of  "their 
fathers." 

We  are  to-day  —  because  we  had  Grant  for 
President  —  regarded  by  the  world  as  an  honest 
nation.  Our  credit  is  second  only  to  that  of  Eng- 
land. 

We  are  not,  however,  out  of  danger.  Formid- 
able agencies  are  at  work  to  take  from  us  our 
"  good  name  "  for  honesty.  Stripped  of  sophistry, 
the  "  greenback  "  agitation  was  a  crusade  of  dis- 
honesty. 


138  ABOUT  GRANT. 

There  is,  in  kind,  no  difference  of  morality  be- 
tween the  act  of  the  highwayman  who  takes  a 
purse  after  presenting  his  pistol,  and  the  act  of 
a  voter  who  scales  a  debt  by  dishonest  legislation. 
The  motive  in  both  cases  is  to  get  that  which 
belongs  to  another :  it  is  the  method  only  that 
varies.  The  champions  of  cheap  money  are,  just 
now,  beaten ;  but  the  area  of  dishonesty  has  not 
been  contracted,  its  activities  are  not  lessened. 

Twelve  States  have  repudiated  more  or  less  of 
their  debts.  Eleven  of  them  are  Southern ;  one, 
to  its  shame,  is  a  Northern  State.  Nearly  a  third 
of  the  Republic  has  upon  it  the  stain  of  dishonor. 

Capital  and  labor  are  very  far  from  being  upon 
the  terms  of  amity  needed  for  their  common  inter- 
est. We  are  separating  into  classes ;  habits  are 
changing ;  feelings  of  bitterness,  strange  to  this 
country,  are  being  manifested,  and  the  breach  be- 
tween the  "well-to-do"  and  the  ill-provided-for  is 
widening. 

Late  immigration  brings  us  more  agitators  and 
less  agriculturists  than  formerly. 

Commercial  integrity  is  more  and  more  inclined 
to  find  its  incentive  rather  in  the  maxim  that 
"  honesty  pays,"  than  in  the  principle  of  ac- 
countability to  a  higher  than  earthly  tribunal. 
Every  large  town  and  city  with  us  has  resorts 
where  levelling  and  agrarian  ideas  fester  and 
spread,  and  the  ignorant  voter  is  receiving  a 
street  and  shop  education  tainted  with  the  social- 
ism of  Germany  and  the  nihilism  of  Russia.  The 


THE  HONEST  DOLLAR.  139 

thin  end  of  the  communistic  wedge  is  labelled 
"cheap  money."  Cheap  money  is  always  bad 
money.  Said  Grant,  in  one  of  his  messages, 
"  A  poorer  currency  will  always  drive  the  better, 
out  of  circulation.  With  paper  a  legal  tender, 
and  at  a  discount,  gold  and  silver  become  articles 
of  merchandise  as  much  as  wheat  or  cotton. 
The  surplus  will  find  the  best  market." 

What  we  need  in  this  country  is  thorough 
primary  discussion,  face  to  face  with  the  people, 
on  the  elementary  principles  of  political  economy. 
The  delusion  that  there  is  any  easy  way  or  short 
cut  out  of  the  inequalities  of  human  conditions 
is  as  cruel  in  its  effect  as  it  is  false  in  its  start. 
Opportunity  for  each  and  all  to  get  out  of  the 
world  all  they  can,  by  all  ways  and  means  except 
immoral,  selfish,  and  illegal  ones,  is  the  central 
principle  of  our  government.  There  is  a  moral 
obligation  to  use  means,  power,  and  talent  for  the 
common  good  ;  but  to  regulate  morals  is  beyond 
the  province  of  law. 

We  are  soon  to  be  in  a  political  controversy  over 
the  function  of  silver  as  money.  Silver,  when 
coined,  is  constitutional  money  —  but  a  silver 
dollar  can  be  a  lie  or  a  truth.  Silver  payment 
can  be  just  or  unjust.  It  is  right  to  use  silver 
in  a  right  way ;  it  has  value,  and  should  be  used 
for  what  it  is  worth.  It  may  be  wise  for  us  to 
co-operate  for  the  recognition  by  all  nations  of 
silver  as  money,  when  coined. 

The    silver   issue   will   enter   into   the   coming 


140  ABOUT  GRANT. 

grave  national  campaign  of  1880,  and  the  Demo- 
crats and  inflationists  will  "pull  together."  In 
their  hands  the  volume  of  silver  is  to  be  carried 
to  the  point  of  utmost  depreciation.  Their  cardi- 
nal point  is  cheap  money,  or  money  that  will 
"  float." 

To  cheapen  silver  is  to  raise  prices,  and  they  are 
for  high  prices.  It  will  enable  the  debtor  to  pay 
his  creditor  in  a  less  value  than  the  latter  had  a 
right  to  expect.  To  make  ninety,  eighty,  or  sixty 
cents  in  payment  do  the  work  of  one  hundred 
cents  of  contract,  is  to  the  expansionist  a  "  con- 
summation devoutly  to  be  wished." 

The  Republicans  of  the  country  are  to  join 
issue  on  the  silver  fight.  They  will  deal  with 
this  metal  as  they  did  with  the  war-currency,  — 
justly.  It  will  be  their  object  to  make  silver  as 
they  made  the  "greenback,"  as  "good  as  gold," 
so  that  silver  and  paper  alike  shall  represent  an 
honest  dollar. 

It  was  fourteen  years  prior  to  the  passage  of  the 
Resumption  Act  that  Grant  had  left  the  humble 
tanyard  at  Galena,  to  respond  to  the  call  of  his 
country. 

He  had,  by  what  some  regard  as  destiny,  but 
others  more  reverently  hold  to  be  the  guidance 
of  Providence,  been  permitted  to  do  great  deeds 
and  to  receive  great  honors. 

With  the  aid  of  his  trusted  generals  and  his 
loyal  legions,  he  had  carried  the  flag  of  the  nation 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  and  had  brought 


THE  HONEST  DOLLAR.  141 

it   back  to  the  American  people  with  every  star 
shining  and  its  stripes  purified  by  victory. 

The  grateful  nation  had  created  for  him  a  mili- 
tary honor  no  other  American  had  ever  borne. 
Twice  he  had  been  chosen  chief  magistrate,  serv- 
ing through  eight  years  of  unparalleled  civil  con- 
fusion and  unprecedented  commercial  desolation. 
By  the  help  of  his  loyal  associates  in  other 
branches  of  government,  he  had  been  enabled  to 
bring  back  the  "age  of  gold,"  and  had  thereby 
added  to  the  renown  of  America  not  only  the  title 
of  a  brave,  but  the  higher  glory  of  an  honest,  peo- 
ple. Will  we  keep  the  honor? 


GRANT  AS   A   RETIRED   CAESAR. 


"  Tell  me,  O  Muse !  of  that  sagacious  man, 
Who,  having  overthrown  the  sacred  town 
Of  Ilium,  wandered  far,  and  visited 
The  capitals  of  many  nations."  — Odyssey. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

IMPERIALISM. 

WHEN  the  comet  resembled  a  cross,  it  received 
the  blessing  of  the  chief  pontiff :  when  it  as- 
sumed the  shape  of  a  Turkish  cimeter,  the  head 
of  the  Church  cursed  it  vigorously.  Popular 
adulation  passes  into  popular  censure  sometimes 
with  equal  rapidity.  Periodically  this  country  is 
afflicted  with  spasms  over  some  imagined  case 
of  imperialism.  At  an  early  date  in  our  history 
Jefferson  was  seized  with  an  apprehension  that 
we  were  on  the  brink  of  monarchy.  If  John 
Adams  wore  curled  hair,  or  indulged  in  the  pomp- 
ous airs  for  which  he  was  said  to  be  noted,  the 
Jefferson  school  saw  crowned  heads  and  sceptres 
in  the  distance.  This  school  was  in  constant  ter- 
ror over  a  possible  king.1 

1  John  Adams  says  that  the  difference  between  him  and  Jefferson  was, 
i.  In  the  difference  between  speeches  and  messages.  I  was  a  monarchist. 
I  thought  a  speech  more  manly,  more  respectful  to  Congress  and  the 
nation :  Jefferson  and  Rush  preferred  messages.  2.  I  held  levees  once  a 
week,  that  all  of  my  time  might  not  be  wasted  in  idle  visits :  Jefferson's 
whole  eight  years  was  a  levee.  3.  I  dined  a  large  company  once  or  twice 
a  week  :  Jefferson  dined  a  dozen  every  day.  4.  Jefferson  and  Rush  were 
for  liberty  and  straight  hair :  I  thought  curled  hair  as  republican  as 
straight. 


146  ABOUT  GRANT. 

This  nervous  Jeffersonian  trait  has  been  trans- 
mitted ;  and  every  generation  has  had  its  timid 
prophets,  who  have  seen  "  handwritings  on  the 
wall,"  that  portended  the  Atlantic  Caesar.  Said 
a  State  legislator,  "  I'm  agin  five-inch  cart-wheels. 
Our  fathers  did  their  business  with  four-inch  ones. 
If  they  was  good  enough  for  them,  they  is  good 
enough  for  us.  I'm  agin  this  five-inch  move.  I 
see  monarchy  in  it."  Cassarphobia  is  found  in 
two  extremes,  —  the  backwoods  statesman  of  hay- 
seed propensities,  and  the  Eastern  dilettant  who 
has  run  to  seed.  It  was  the  touching  statement 
of  Pecksniff  that  "in  the  nose  of  my  eldest  and 
chin  of  my  youngest  their  sainted  parent  lives 
again."  In  the  boisterous  rhetoric  of  the  frontier 
granger,  and  the  polished  sentences  of  the  Atlan- 
tic pamphleteer,  the  spirit  of  Jefferson  lives  again. 
Grant  was  the  occasion  of  the  latest  imperialistic 
scare.  The  possibility  that  he  might  be  chosen 
three  consecutive  terms  gave  rise  to  an  outcry 
against  the  monarchical  tendency.  The  doubtful 
dagger  which  troubled  the  vision  of  Macbeth  found 
a  counterpart  in  the  royal  blade  that  in  imagina- 
tion waved  in  the  hands  of  Grant.  Caesarism  was 
the  synonyme  of  Grantism.  The  classics  were 
searched  to  find  examples  of  ambitious  men  who 
had  plotted  for  empire,  to  range  beside  our  Caesar. 
If  Grant  travelled  in  a  steamboat  on  which  a  brass- 
band  discoursed  music,  if  he  drove  "a  four-in- 
hand  "  at  Long  Branch,  or  if  he  asked  for  troops 
to  protect  the  hunted  black  people,  to  some  these 


IMPERIALISM,  147 

affairs  were  "  confirmation  strong  "  that  Grant  in- 
tended to  seize  the  government,  and  that  he  was 
practising  the  r61e  of  king."  Frantic  harangues 
were  made  by  alarmists ;  and  ink-black  warnings 
written  by  excited  correspondents,  that  Grant 
never  would  give  up  the  Presidency,  but  would 
become  a  military  dictator. 

The  man,  of  whom  it  was  predicted  that  he 
would  perpetuate  his  power  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  withdrew  from  the  public  in  the  most 
quiet  and  unostentatious  manner;  gladly  leaving 
his  high  civic  station  to  re-enter  private  life.  In- 
stead of  seeking  to  wield  the  sword  of  empire, 
Grant  has  never  been  known  to  lift  his  finger  for 
his  own  advancement.  In  a  letter  he  had  said,  — 

"  Now  for  the  third  term.  I  do  not  want  it  any  more 
than  I  did  the  first.  I  would  not  write  or  utter  a  word  to 
change  the  will  of  the  people  in  expressing  and  having  their 
choice.  The  question  of  the  number  of  terms  allowed  to 
any  one  executive  can  only  come  up  fairly  in  the  shape  of  a 
proposition  to  amend  the  Constitution,  —  a  shape  in  which 
all  political  parties  can  participate,  fixing  the  length  of  time 
or  the  number  of  terms  for  which  any  one  person  shall  be 
eligible  for  the  office  of  President.  Until  such  an  amend- 
ment is  adopted,  the  people  cannot  be  restricted  in  their 
choice  by  resolution  further  than  they  are  now  restricted  as 
to  age,  nativity,  &c. 

"  It  may  happen  in  the  future  history  of  the  country,  that 
to  change  an  executive  because  he  has  been  eight  years 
in  office  will  prove  unfortunate,  if  not  disastrous.  The  idea 
that  any  man  could  elect  himself  President,  or  even  renomi- 
nate  himself,  is  preposterous.  It  is  a  reflection  upon  the 
intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  people  to  suppose  such  a 


148  ABOUT   GRANT. 

thing  possible.  Any  man  can  destroy  his  chances  for  the 
office,  but  no  one  can  force  an  election,  or  even  a  nomina- 
tion. To  recapitulate :  I  am  not,  nor  have  I  ever  been,  a 
candidate  for  a  renomination.  I  would  not  accept  a  nomi- 
nation if  it  were  tendered  unless  it  should  come  under  such 
circumstances  as  to  make  it  an  imperative  duty,  —  circum- 
stances not  likely  to  arise." 

Faithful  to  the  contents  of  this  letter,  Grant, 
after  being  elevated  from  an  obscure  position  to 
become  chief  among  forty  millions  of  people,  laid 
down  his  honors  not  only  without  a  murmur,  but 
with  a  sense  of  relief, — going  back  to  the  people 
after  serving  their  will,  seeking  nothing,  desir- 
ing nothing,  but  the  privileges  of  a  retirement 
that  could  only  be  disturbed  by  the  command  of 
the  people,  which  to  him  has  ever  been  a  summons 
to  duty.  From  the  moment  that  one  of  his  towns- 
men by  persistent  effort  obtained  for  him  a  subor- 
dinate appointment  in  the  volunteer  army,  to  the 
time  of  his  return  to  the  ranks  of  citizenship, 
every  honor  had  come  to  him  unsought.  While 
suffering  unjust  treatment,  and  subject  to  un- 
founded suspicion,  he  did  not  resort  to  political 
influence  for  vindication. 

In  all  matters  of  public  policy  the  public  judg- 
ment was  law  to  him.  Examine  his  eventful 
career  with  the  closest  scrutiny,  and  not  a  sign  of 
intrigue  or  inclination  for  personal  aggrandizement 
can  be  traced.  Yet  speeches  elaborately  prepared, 
requiring  hours  for  delivering,  sought  to  prove 
him  the  basest  aspirant  for  place,  and  to  fasten 


IMPERIALISM.  149 

upon  him  the  stain  of  imperial  ambition.  A 
stream  of  vilification  poured  over  him  for  years. 
No  instance  of  sordid  greed  for  wealth  or  glaring 
thirst  for  power,  and  nothing  of  disrepute  that 
imagination  could  invent  when  history  failed,  were 
left  unhidden  or  unsaid  by  those  who  had  banded 
to  counteract  the  power  of  Grant  by  blasting  his 
reputation.  There  were  great  men  who  did  this, 
believing  that  duty  required  the  task.  There  were 
little  men  who  echoed  these  sentiments  for  the 
notoriety  which  comes  from  the  mere  fact  of  abus- 
ing men  of  eminence.  "  A  very  small  fly  can 
worry  a  very  large  horse,  and  still  the  fly  is  a  fly, 
and  the  horse  is  a  horse,"  is  a  saying  attributed 
to  Dr.  Johnson.  Human  flies  have  some  capacity 
for  annoyance  if  they  have  none  for  positive  in- 
jury. 

In  relinquishing  official  responsibility,  Grant 
looked  forward  to  that  enjoyment  at  home,  and 
pleasure  by  travel  abroad,  impossible  while  in 
public  position.  His  modesty  in  speech,  and  his 
desire  for  others  to  share  the  attentions  heaped 
upon  him,  is  the  best  answer  that  can  be  made  to 
the  dribble  and  nonsense  about  imperialism. 

In  taking  leave  of  his  friends  at  Philadelphia, 
before  starting  upon  his  now  famous  foreign  tour, 
he  said  in  reply  to  very  complimentary  remarks,  — 

"  I  do  not  regard  myself  as  entitled  to  all  the 
praise.  I  believe  that  my  friend  Sherman  could 
have  taken  my  place  as  a  soldier  as  well  as  I 
could,  and  the  same  will  apply  to  Sheridan." 


150  ABOUT  GRANT. 

"I  believe,"  said  he,  "that,  if  our  country  ever 
comes  into  trouble  again,  young  men  will  spring 
up  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  if  one  fails  there  will 
be  another  to  take  his  place."  If  that  is  the  spirit 
and  language  of  "Caesarism,"  the  more  of  it  the 
better  for  the  country. 

Over  the  bier  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wen- 
dell Phillips  pronounced  a  sentence  that  should 
be  cut  in  marble  or  raised  in  bronze,  upon  the 
monument  yet  to  commemorate  the  noblest  of 
all  Puritan  philanthropists  :  — 

"IF  YOU  SEEK  THROUGH  THE  HIDDEN  CAUSES 
AND  UNHEEDED  EVENTS  FOR  THE  HAND  THAT 
WROTE  EMANCIPATION  ON  THE  STATUTE-BOOKS 
AND  ON  THE  FLAG,  IT  LIES  STILL  THERE  TO-DAY." 
It  lessens  no  honor  due  the  man  who  consecrated 
his  life  to  the  cause  of  the  slave,  to  avow  the  fact 
that  the  same  overruling  power  which  gave  effect 
to  the  pen  of  Garrison  also  guided  the  sword  of 
Grant  when  it  cut  the  Gordian  knot  which,  from 
the  origin  of  the  nation,  had  been  alike  our 
danger  and  our  dishonor.  The  great  agitator  is 
dead.  The  magistrate  whose  signature  made 
emancipation  legal  became  the  martyr  of  loyalty. 
The  soldier  who  led  the  triumphant  armies  which 
made  emancipation  a  fact  survives  those  associ- 
ated with  the  grandest  event  since  the  Christian 
era  began.  He  takes  rank  justly  as  our  first  liv- 
ing citizen. 

It  is  the  recreation  of  Carlyle  to  scoff  at  our 
country  and  our  countrymen.  It  has  been  said 


IMPERIALISM.  1 5 1 

that  he  regards  the  time  spent  in  the  company  of 
Americans  as  lost.  To  avenge  himself  for  the 
"  forced  loan  "  of  his  society  to  Americans,  which 
etiquette  sometimes  requires  him  to  make,  Carlyle 
wounds  his  listeners  in  a  tender  place,  by  assert- 
ing, in  his  broadest  Scotch  dialect,  that  "  G-e-a-r-g-e 
Washington  did  not  amount  to  much  either  as  a 
statesman  or  general."  Frederick  the  Great,  in 
the  fourth  year  of  the  "  Seven  Years'  War,"  was 
beaten  near  his  capital.  It  was  a  "  universal  rout." 
"  Shattered  in  body  and  in  mind,"  the  retreating 
king  found  refuge  in  a  deserted  farmhouse.  He 
sent  a  despatch  to  the  royal  family  to  leave  Berlin. 
"  The  defeat  was  in  truth  overwhelming ;  of  the 
fifty  thousand  men  who  had  that  morning  marched 
under  the  black  eagles,  not  three  thousand  re- 
mained together."  Of  Frederick  it  has  been  said, 
that  "  his  heart  was  ulcerated  with  hatred."  He 
once  wrote,  "  I  begin  to  feel,  as  the  Italians  say, 
revenge  is  a  pleasure  for  the  gods.  My  philoso- 
phy is  worn  out  by  suffering.  I  am  no  saint  like 
those  of  whom  we  read  in  the  legends  ;  and  I  will 
own  that  I  should  die  content  if  I  could  only  first 
inflict  a  portion  of  the  misery  which  I  endure." 
Carlyle  spent  fifteen  years  in  writing  the  life  of 
Frederick  the  Great.  A  number  of  bulky  volumes 
contain  his  estimate  of  that  Prussian  soldier. 
Surely  we  can  afford  to  be  patient  under  the  spite 
of  the  eminent  Scotch  termagant,  as  he  projects 
his  gall  upon  the  men  and  the  ideas  of  America, 
when  we  can  present  in  contrast  to  his  famous 


152  ABOUT  GRANT. 

hero  a  captain  who  never  lost  a  battle,  and  whose 
heart  never  felt  any  sentiment  of  hatred  to  the 
foes  he  fought  and  conquered. 

Edmond  de  Pressense,  writing  on  Thiers,  says, 
"  This  was  he  whom  last  year  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  named  with  acclamation  when  it  inter- 
rupted M.  de  Fourtou,  the  worthy  minister  of  the 
government  of  intriguers  and  conspirators,  which 
had  grasped  the  power  on  the  i6th  of  May,  1877. 
He  had  here  the  impudence  to  pay  homage  for  the 
liberation  of  the  country  to  the  monarchical  ma- 
jority of  the  National  Assembly,  when  more  than 
three  hundred  deputies  rose  like  a  single  man,  and, 
pointing  at  the  illustrious  old  man,  exclaimed,  "  Le 
voila,  le  liberateur  de  la  France,  le  voila!  " 

Should  the  question  be  put  to  the  American 
people,  what  one  of  their  number  had  been  most 
instrumental  in  aiding  the  supremacy  of  the  flag 
upon  which  EMANCIPATION  was  written,  and  who 
in  the  calm  of  peace  had  done  most  to  write  upon 
that  flag  the  word  HONOR  after  LIBERTY  and  LOY- 
ALTY, it  would  be  the  acclaim  of  the  nation  that 
this  great  dignity  belonged  to  Grant. 


GRANT  ABROAD.  153 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

GRANT   ABROAD. 

PRIGGISH  Americans  have  been  made  very  un- 
comfortable by  the  manners  of  both  Lincoln  and 
Grant.  Taking  their  idea  of  presidential  deport- 
ment from  Everett's  finished  discourse  upon  Wash- 
ington, and  being  impressed  with  the  fact  that  the 
first  chief  magistrate  rarely,  if  ever,  smiled  in  his 
maturer  years,  the  awkward  appearance  of  Lin- 
coln and  his  fondness  for  stories,  the  impertur- 
bability of  Grant  and  his  attachment  to  horses,  — 
have  been  a  perpetual  source  of  irritation  to  those 
who  have  notions  of  decorum  based  on  the  sound- 
est provincial  standards.  These  might  find  relief 
in  their  distress  by  reading  Emerson,  the  most 
genial,  if  not  the  most  authoritative,  of  the  apos- 
tles of  culture.  Says  Emerson,  "  The  hero  should 
find  himself  at  home,  wherever  he  is ;  should  im- 
part comfort,  by  his  own  security  and  good-nature, 
to  all  beholder^.  The  hero  is  suffered  to  be  him- 
self. A  person  of  strong  mind  comes  to  perceive 
that  for  him  an  immunity  is  secured  so  long  as  he 
renders  to  society  that  service  which  is  native  and 
proper  to  him ;  an  immunity  from  all  the  observ- 
ances, yea,  and  duties,  which  society  so  tyranni- 


154  ABOUT  GRANT. 

cally  imposes  on  the  rank  and  file  of  its  members." 
For  two  years  the  man  of  whom  it  had  been  often 
remarked,  "  He  is  a  consummate  soldier,  but  under 
no  circumstances  could  he  ever  act  the  gentleman," 
has  been  in  the  society  of  "princes,  potentates, 
and  powers ; "  and  has  passed  the  social  ordeal, 
not  only  with  sufficient  decorum,  but  with  great 
distinction.  The  fine  adaptation  of  his  responses 
to  the  immediate  and  exact  duty  before  him,  and 
his  manly  modesty  in  attributing  to  the  greatness 
of  the  nation  over  which  he  had  presided,  the 
cause  of  the  marked  attention  accorded  to  him, 
cannot  fail  to  strike  with  admiration  whoever  has 
read  or  may  read  his  travels  abroad.  Replying  to 
the  mayor  of  Manchester,  England,  he  said,  "  I  was 
very  well  aware,  during  the  war,  of  the  sentiments 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  Manchester 
toward  the  country  to  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
belong ;  and  also  the  sentiments  with  regard  to 
the  struggle  in  which  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  take  a 
humble  part.  ...  I  therefore  accept,  on  the  part 
of  my  country,  the  compliments  which  have  been 
paid  to  me  as  its  representative,  and  thank  you 
for  them  heartily." 

At  Salford  he  said,  "  I  cannot  help  feeling  that 
it  is  my  country  that  is  honored  through  me." 

At  Leicester,  "Allow  me  in  behalf  of  my  coun- 
try to  return  you  thanks  for  this  honor,  and  for 
your  kind  reception,  as  well  as  for  the  other 
kind  receptions  which  I  have  had  since  the  time 
that  I  first  landed  on  the  soil  of  Great  Britain. 


GRANT  ABROAD.  155 

As  children  of  this  great  Commonwealth,  we  feel 
that  you  must  have  some  reason  to  be  proud  of 
our  advancement  since  our  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  I  can  assure  you  of  our  heart- 
felt good-will,  and  express  to  you  our  thanks  on 
behalf  of  the  American  people."  This  resem- 
bles Caesarism  as  nearly  as  the  cloud  on  which 
Polonius  gazed  resembled  a  whale.  At  the  re- 
ception given  to  Grant  by  the  American  ambassa- 
dor, the  apartments  were  crowded  with  dukes, 
marquises,  earls,  the  lord  chancellor,  and  lesser 
nobles  ;  and  the  prigs  may  be  glad  to  learn  that 
the  behavior  of  the  "  great  horse  president "  was 
unexceptionable.  The  freedom  of  the  city  of 
London,  "  the  highest  honor  that  can  be  paid  by 
this  ancient  and  renowned  corporation,"  was  ex- 
tended to  Grant.  To  the  presentation  banquet 
eight  hundred  guests  were  invited ;  and  the  "  free- 
dom of  the  city  was  presented  in  a  gold  casket," 
and  all  the  ceremonies  were  of  the  most  interest- 
ing nature.  His  speech  in  response  to  the  Lord 
Mayor  may  be  taken  as  a  model  of  simple  strength 
and  dignity.  It  was  received  with  the  most  hearty 
cheering ;  and  from  the  absence  in  it  of  toadyism, 
and  the  "slop-over"  trait  so  common  in  American 
speeches,  it  could  be  imitated  with  great  advan- 
tage by  some  of  our  literary  lights. 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  some  regret  to  me,  that  I  have  never 
cultivated  that  art  of  public  speaking  which  might  have  ena- 
bled me  to  express  in  suitable  terms  my  gratitude  for  the 
compliment  which  has  been  paid  to  my  countrymen  and  my- 


156  ABOUT  GRANT. 

self  on  this  occasion.  Were  I  in  the  habit  of  speaking  in 
public,  I  should  claim  the  right  to  express  my  opinion,  and 
what  I  believe  will  be  the  opinion  of  my  countrymen  when 
the  proceedings  of  this  day  shall  have  been  telegraphed  to 
them.  For  myself,  I  have  been  very  much  surprised  at  my 
reception  at  all  places  since  the  day  I  landed  at  Liverpool, 
up  to  my  appearance  in  this  the  greatest  city  in  the  world. 
It  was  entirely  unexpected,  and  it  is  particularly  gratifying 
to  me.  I  believe  that  this  honor  is  intended  quite  as  much 
for  the  country  which  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  serving 
in  different  capacities,  as  for  myself ;  and  I  am  glad  that  this 
is  so,  because  I  want  to  see  the  happiest  relations  existing, 
not  only  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  but 
also  between  the  United  States  and  all  other  nations." 

At  a  dinner  given  to  him  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Hughes,  the  host,  in  proposing  the  health  of  his 
distinguished  guest,  relieved  him  of  the  "  burden 
of  a  formal  reply."  Grant,  however,  rose  and  said, 
"  Mr.  Hughes,  I  must  none  the  less  tell  you  what 
gratification  it  gives  me  to  hear  my  health  pro- 
posed in  such  hearty  words  by  Tom  Brown  of  Rug- 
by." A  gentleman  could  hardly  have  done  better. 
He  dined  with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  in  company 
with  the  Emperor  of  Brazil,  at  the  Marlborough 
House  ;  and  later  there  was  a  banquet  given  by  the 
Trinity  Corporation  in  their  hall  on  Tower  Hill, 
the  Prince  of  -Wales  presiding.  The  company 
was  a  distinguished  and  brilliant  one.  Among 
others  were  Prince  Leopold,  Prince  Christian 
of  Schleswig-Holstein,  the  Prince"  of  Leinengen, 
Prince  Edward  of  Saxe-Weimar,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  and  the  Earl  of  Derby. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  in  his  speech  said,  "  It 


GRANT  ABROAD.  157 

is  a  matter  of  peculiar  gratification  to  us  as  Eng- 
lishmen to  receive  as  our  guest  Gen.  Grant.  I  can 
assure  him  for  myself,  and  for  all  the  loyal  sub- 
jects of  the  Queen,  that  it  has  given  me  the  great- 
est pleasure  to  see  him  as  a  guest  in  this  country." 
From  all  that  can  be  learned,  the  conduct  of  Grant 
in  this  distinguished  society  would  not  have  ruffled 
the  serenity  of  the  most  fastidious  taste.  The  fol- 
lowing unusual  invitation  was  sent:  "The  Lord 
Steward  of  her  Majesty's  household  is  commanded 
by  the  Queen  to  invite  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grant  to 
dinner  at  Windsor  Castle,  the  2/th  inst,  and  to 
remain  until  the  following  day,  the  28th  of  June, 
1877."  This  exceptional  courtesy  is  more  remark- 
able when  we  recall  the  frequent  charge  made 
against  the  recipient,  that  he  was  a  "would-be 
Caesar,"  "and  was  a  person  of  no  breeding,  famil- 
iar only  with  war  and  horses."  Plain  " Mr.  Grant " 
is  a  strange  address  for  a  scheming  imperialist ; 
and  it  is  not  generally  supposed  that  the  Queen 
of  England  offers  hospitality  to  ill-bred  people. 

Five  days  after  the  visit  to  royalty,  Grant  re- 
ceived the  representative  working-men  of  London. 
After  the  reading  of  an  address  handsomely  en- 
grossed on  vellum,  Grant  in  response  said,  — 

"  Gentlemen,  —  In  the  name  of  my  country  I  thank  you 
for  the  address  you  have  just  presented  to  me.  I  feel  it  a 
great  compliment  paid  to  my  government,  to  the  former  gov- 
ernment, and  one  to  me  personally.  Since  my  arrival  on 
British  soil  I  have  received  great  attentions  ;  and,  as  I  feel, 
intended  in  the  same  way  for  my  country.  I  have  received 


158  ABOUT  GRANT. 

attentions,  and  have  had  ovations,  free  hand-shakings,  and 
presentations  from  different  classes,  and  from  the  Govern- 
ment, and  from  the  controlling  authorities  of  cities,  and 
have  been  received  in  the  cities  by  the  populace.  But  there 
is  no  reception  I  am  prouder  of  than  this  one  to-day.  I 
recognize  the  fact  that  whatever  there  is  of  greatness  in  the 
United  States,  or  indeed  in  any  other  country,  is  due  to  the 
labor  performed.  The  laborer  is  the  author  of  all  greatness 
and  wealth.  Without  labor  there  would  be  no  government 
or  no  leading  class,  or  nothing  to  preserve.  With  us  labor 
is  regarded  as  highly  respectable.  When  it  is  not  so  re- 
garded, it  is  then  man  dishonors  labor.  We  recognize  that 
labor  dishonors  no  man  ;  and  no  matter  what  a  man's  occu- 
pation is,  he  is  eligible  to  fill  any  post  in  the  gift  of  the  peo- 
ple. His  occupation  is  not  considered  in  the  selection  of 
him,  whether  as  a  law-maker  or  an  executor  of  the  law." 

Grant's  reply  to  the  mayor  of  Liverpool  is  most 
loyal  to  his  country  :  — 

"  Mr.  Mayor  and  Gentlemen,  —  You  have  alluded  to  the 
hearty  reception  given  to  me  on  my  first  landing  on  the  soil 
of  Great  Britain,  and  the  expectations  of  the  mayor  that  this 
reception  would  be  equalled  throughout  the  island  have  been 
more  than  realized.  It  has  been  far  beyond  any  thing  I 
could  have  expected.  [Cheers.]  I  am  a  soldier,  and  the 
gentlemen  here  beside  me  know  that  a  soldier  must  die.  I 
have  been  a  president,  but  we  know  that  the  term  of  jJie 
presidency  expires  ;  and,  when  it  has  expired,  he  is  no  more 
than  a  dead  soldier.  [Laughter  and  cheers.]  But,  gentle- 
men, I  have  met  with  a  reception  that  would  have  done 
honor  to  any  living  person.  [Cheers.]  I  feel,  however, 
that  the  compliment  has  been  paid,  not  to  me,  but  to  my 
country.  I  cannot  help  but  at  this  moment  being  highly 
pleased  at  the  good  feeling  and  good  sentiment  which  now 
exist  between  the  two  peoples  who  of  all  others  should  be 
good  friends.  We  are  of  one  kindred,  of  one  blood,  of  one 


GRANT  ABROAD.  159 

language,  and  of  one  civilization,  though  in  some  respects 
we  believe  that  we,  being  younger,  surpass  the  mother- 
country.  [Laughter.]  You  have  made  some  improvements 
on  the  soil  and  the  surface  of  the  earth  which  we  have  not 
yet  done,  but  which  we  do  not  believe  will  take  us  as  long 
as  it  took  you.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  I  heard  some 
military  remarks  which  impressed  me  a  little  at  the  time.  I 
am  not  quite  sure  whether  they  were  in  favor  of  the  volun- 
teers, or  against  them.  I  can  only  say  from  my  own  obser- 
vation, that  you  have  as  many  troops  at  Aldershott  as  we 
have  in  the  whole  of  our  regular  army,  notwithstanding  we 
have  many  thousands  of  miles  of  frontier  to  guard,  and  hostile 
Indians  to  control.  But,  if  it  became  necessary  to  raise  a 
volunteer  force,  I  do  not  think  we  could  do  better  than  fol- 
low your  example.  Gen.  Fairchild  and  myself  are  examples 
of  volunteers  who  came  forward  when  their  assistance  was 
necessary ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  you  ever  needed 
such  services  you  would  have  support  from  your  reserve 
forces  and  volunteers,  far  more  effective  than  you  can  con- 
ceive. [Cheers.]  " 

We  cannot  follow  Grant  farther.  The  same 
rising  up  of  people,  the  same  extraordinary  court- 
esy from  titled  and  untitled  rulers,  were  seen  in 
the  Empire  of  Germany,  the  Republic  of  France, 
and  the  Kingdom  of  Italy.  The  ovations  of  the 
elder  continent  of  Asia  were  no  less  cordial  than 
those  of  Europe.  India,  with  her  Oriental  mag- 
nificence ;  China,  forgetting  for  the  moment  her 
stoicism  ;-  Siam  and  Japan,  stirred  to  an  enthusi- 
asm unfamiliar  to  Asiatic  races,  —  showered  their 
welcome  upon  the  American  who  has  been  the 
guest  of  the  world. 

The  method  with    some   in    controversy,  when 


160  ABOUT  GRANT. 

argument  fails,  is  to  resort  to  ridicule.  There 
being  no  constitutional  objection  in  choosing  a 
President  every  four  years,  for  as  many  four  years 
as  the  people  see  fit,  the  organs  that  have  con- 
tracted to  "  smash  "  the  third-term  movement  meet 
it  with  gibes.  Aware  that  the  position,  that  to 
elect  a  President  for  three  terms  will  end  in  his 
re-election  for  life,  is  to  concede  that  the  people 
are  incapable  of  self-government,  the  plan  now  is 
to  "pooh-pooh"  and  laugh  down  the  proposition 
to  take  Grant  again.  His  trip  abroad  gave  rise  to 
the  following  exhibition  of  anti-third-term  wit :  — 

"  The  European  nobles  would  soon  fall  into  the  way  of 
taking  a  hand  in  the  presidential  canvass.  When  an  ex- 
President  arrived  on  their  shores,  they  would  receive  him 
with  increasing  honors  on  seeing  that  it  tickled  the  Ameri- 
cans. Then,  if  there  were  two  ex-Presidents  in  the  field 
pitted  against  each  other,  the  campaign  orators  of  each  side 
would  endeavor  to  show  that  their  man  had  had  bigger  din- 
ners in  Europe,  and  had  been  received  by  more  crowned 
heads,  and  had  had  more  elephants  in  his  procession,  than 
the  other  man." 

As  this  is  the  sort  of  intellectual  pabulum  upon 
which  a  certain  class  of  voters  are  fed,  and  as  it 
is  perhaps  the  nearest  approach  to  an  argument 
given  us  by  the  other  side,  whoever  feels  that  a 
possible  exigency  might  demand  another  term  for 
Grant,  may  congratulate  himself  that  the  gravest 
danger  attending  the  innovation  upon  custom 
would  be  the  habit  of  rival  candidates  making 
political  thunder  by  ex-presidential  trips  to  Eu- 


GRANT  ABROAD.  161 

rope.  We  can  afford  to  face  this  bugbear.  Grant, 
if  re-elected,  could  not  retire  till  1885.  Should  his 
successor  prove  a  Democrat,  and  serve  the  usual 
eight  years,  the  "big  dinner,"  "crowned  head," 
and  "white  elephant"  rivalry,  which  now  keeps 
awake  the  guardians  of  the  public  virtue,  could 
by  no  means  occur  until  after  1896.  These  dates 
are  given,  that  the  innocent  political  babes  who 
are  sustained  on  such  editorial  pap  may  be 
soothed  or  strengthened. 

It  was  not  because  he  was  an  ex-President,  but 
because  he  was  Grant,  that  he  had  unusual  honor. 
A  visit  by  a  former  ex-President  was  as  free  from 
special  attention  as  would  be  the  foreign  tour  of 
one  of  the  staff  of  the  most  prominent  organs 
of  the  eight-years-and-out  idea.  "The  divine 
horses  of  Persia  allow  no  one  to  ride  them  but 
their  own  heroes."  The  civilities  of  Europe  are 
proffered,  and  three  presidential  terms  are  sug- 
gested in  America,  only  to  the  man  whose  life 
and  deeds  have  made  him  such  a  hero  as  the  good 
and  brave  of  the  world  delight  to  honor  and  trust. 
One  of  the  public  documents  of  the  United  States 
contains  two  thousand  pages,  filled  with  letters 
from  all  governments  of  the  earth,  from  famous 
men  of  letters,  from  occupants  of  high  station, 
expressing  sorrow  at  the  assassination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  there  exists 
another  such  compilation  of  heartfelt  sympathy. 

There  is  now  being  issued  an  account  of  the 
journey  of  Grant  around  the  globe.  From  this 


1 62  ABOUT  GRANT. 

volume  we  have  extracted  largely.  Its  contents 
will  number  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  pages. 
It  will  relate  the  incidents  attending  the  "visit 
to  the  capital  of  many  nations"  of  a  living  Ameri- 
can. It  will  tell  of  the  most  significant  courtesy 
extended  by  kings  and  nobles  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  people  on  the  other,  to  a  republican  citizen, 
and  one  of  the  "foremost  captains  of  his  time." 
Nothing  will  touch  the  heart  of  the  reader  more 
than  the  sincere  regard  of  strange  races  for  their 
honored  guest.  If  there  are  some  Americans  who 
will  read  it  with  a  sneer,  there  are  multitudes  who 
will  read  it  with  quickened  faith  in  Grant,  and 
with  an  eye  to  the  near  future. 


HIS   WELCOME  HOME.  163 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

HIS    WELCOME    HOME. 

JAPANESE  satire  on  the  evanescence  of  fame 
says,  "  Great  men  are  spoken  of  for  seventy-five 
days." 

There  have  been  presidents  and  kings  who  have 
"died,  and  made  no  sign."  The  last  act  of  the 
burial-service  is  to  let  fall  upon  the  coffin-lid  the 
dust  of  earth,  and  often  it  closes  over  the  memory 
of  many  who  have  been  esteemed  as  great  and 
wise  while  living. 

But  there  is  a  greatness  that  outlives  death,  and 
becomes  a  part  of  the  inheritance  of  mankind. 

There  are  names  which  are  as  "familiar  as  a 
household  word,"  —  there  are  men  among  all  races 
that  cannot  be  forgotten,  because  their  deeds  make 
both  the  glory  and  the  history  of  their  age.  In 
the  United-States  Senate  it  was  said  that  Grant 
was  gifted  "with  that  splendid  courage  which 
never  blanched  in  battle,  which  never  quaked 
before  clamor, — with  that  matchless  self-poise 
which  did  not  desert  him  even  when  a  continent 
beyond  the  sea  rose  and  uncovered  before  him." 
No  other  American,  in  making  the  circuit  of  the 
globe,  has  received  honors  that  might  vie  in 


164  ABOUT  GRANT. 

splendor  with  a  triumphal  march.  The  world 
makes  no  mistake  in  its  voluntary  recognitions. 
First  and  last  it  bestows  its  highest  estimate  on 
greatness.  The  recognitions  of  Grant  were  not 
due  merely  to  the  high  positions  he  had  held. 
They  were  paid  to  one  who,  by  his  acts,  was 
entitled  to  high  rank  among  marked  men.  The 
same  instinctive  respect  which  caused  two  con- 
tinents to  lavish  attention  upon  Grant  is  about 
to  extend  to  him,  when  he  touches  again  the 
shores  of  the  Republic,  such  a  welcome  as  no 
man  has  ever  received  among  us.1  The  greet- 
ings of  the  Old  World  for  him  will  scarcely 
have  died  away  before  the  rejoicing  of  the  New 
World  will  begin.  Preparations  by  cities  and 
States  now  making  are  but  symptoms  of  that 
outburst  of  affection  and  esteem  awaiting  Grant. 
The  silence  of  Grant  while  President  had  sub- 
jected him  to  unfavorable  comment.  It  was  a 
fling  often  made,  that  he  was  incapable  of  doing 
any  thing  but  to  butcher  men  in  war.  "Until 
polished,  the  precious  stone  is  not  brilliant." 
Until  the  occasion  came,  Grant  had  little  to  say : 
when  it  came,  he  never  failed  to  say  the  right 
word  at  the  right  time.  This  unsuspected  gift 
has  made  his  maligners  unhappy,  for  one  main 
point  of  attack  is  gone.  Nothing  is  left  to  the 
chronic  contemner  of  Grant  but  the  revival  of 
the  scandals  of  an  unfortunate  period  in  our 
career.  But  the  people  understand  that  the  cry 

i  Written  before  Grant's  return. 


HIS   WELCOME  HOME.  165 

of  "ring,"  as  applied  to  him,  is  one  of  the  most 
defunct  of  our  "dead"  issues.  The  national  re- 
ception in  store  for  Grant  will  include  the  numbers 
who  understand  loyalty  to  mean  fidelity  to  the  idea 
that  "  we  are  a  nation,"  and  not  "  a  confederacy." 
Joining  in  it  will  be  seen  that  vast  host,  united  by 
the  "mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from 
every  battlefield  and  patriotic  grave  to  every  living 
heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  the  broad  land." 
The  swarthy  race,  remaining  on  the  soil  of  its 
birth  in  despair,  or  fleeing  to  friendlier  lands  in 
hope,  still  uncertain  whether  the  rights  once 
solemnly  guaranteed  to  it  are  to  prove  in  the 
end  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing,  with  all  the 
fervor  of  its  nature  will  hail  the  coming  of 
the  man,  who,  when  he  became  its  friend,  never 
forsook  or  forgot  the  faithful  ally  of  the  assailed 
Union.  All  those  who  remember  with  pride  the 
hard-fought  contest  by  which  the  faith  of  the 
nation  was  kept,  and  the  money  of  the  Constitu- 
tion re-instated ;  all  those  who  see  the  anarchical 
and  disorganizing  agencies  now  combined  against 
public  honor  and  welfare,  together  with  those  who 
believe  that  the  imaginary  evils  of  a  "  third  term  " 
are  slight,  compared  with  the  positive  evils  of  one 
term  of  such  government  as  would  come  from  as- 
cension to  power  of  those  who  fought  the  nation 
with  arms,  and  those  who  fought  it  with  votes,  — 
will  swell  the  chorus  of  welcome.  The  great  body 
of  patriotic  people  who  regulate  their  lives  in 
the  spirit  of  prayerful  responsibility  to  God,  and 


166  ABOUT  GRANT. 

perform  political  duties  in  obedience  to  consci- 
entious conviction,  will  unite  in  hearty  jubilee 
over  the  return  of  Grant.  There  is  existing  at 
the  present  time  a  conviction,  which  is  likely  to 
increase  in  intensity,  that  a  new  peril  may  require 
the  extricating  hand  of  Grant.  So  powerful  is 
this  sentiment  already,  that  it  is  sustained  by  a 
great  majority  of  the  most  influential  members  of 
the  loyal  political  party.  In  the  late  Republican 
convention  of  Iowa,  when  the  "  silent  man,  now 
ploughing  the  Chinese  seas,"  was  referred,  to  as 
the  best  standard-bearer  of  Republican  principles, 
cheer  upon  cheer  responded  to  the  suggestion.1 

Among  the  reasons  given  by  the  business-men 
of  Chicago,  for  the  unanimity  of  choice  for  Grant 
in  1880,  was  a  growing  "distrust  of  the  future. 
.  .  .  The  communistic  outbreaks,  the  partial  suc- 
cesses of  Kearney  and  his  friends,  the  threats  of 
the  men  who  are  now  drilling  at  socialistic  gather- 
ings in  many  of  the  Western  cities,"  have,  it  was 
said,  "all  conspired  to  urge  on  the  movement  in 
favor  of  Grant" 

To  the  present  ministerial  government  of  Eng- 
land, the  Duke  of  Argyle  said  lately,  — 

"  My  lords,  you  are  beginning  to  be  found  out.  The 
people  of  this  country  are  beginning  to  see  you  have  not 
obtained  for  them  what  they  expected.  It  is  not  we,  the 

l  During  the  ovation  and  speeches  made  at  the  gathering  of  the 
veterans  at  Albany  yesterday,  whenever  Gen.  Grant  was  alluded  to,  not- 
withstanding the  presence  of  Gens.  Hooker,  Slocum,  and  McQuade,  and 
many  illustrious  heroes,  the  immense  audience  "  rose  from  their  chairs, 
pounded  with  their  canes,  and  waved  their  hats  wildly." — New-York 
'paper. 


HIS   WELCOME  HOME.  167 

members  of  the  opposition,  are  accusing  you.  Time  is  your 
great  accuser.  The  course  of  events  is  summing  up  the 
case  against  you.  What  have  you  to  say?  I  shall  await 
to  hear  what  you  have  to  say,  —  why  you  should  not  re- 
ceive an  adverse  verdict  at  the  hands  of  the  public,  as  you 
will  certainly  be  called  upon  to  receive  it  at  the  bar  of 
history." 

The  people  are  fast  finding  out  that  one  unfal- 
tering purpose  animates  the  conspirators  against 
the  peace  and  order  of  the  Republic.  It  is  the 
possession  of  the  government  at  all  hazards,  for 
which  they  strike.  The  people  see  this  determi- 
nation revealed  by  the  virtual  extinction  of  the 
Republican  vote  of  the  South  ;  by  the  attempt  to 
invalidate  the  title  of  the  present  executive  through 
investigation ;  in  the  effort  to  force  the  President 
to  assent  to  measures  forbidding  the  use  of  the 
army  for  constitutional  duty ;  and  in  the  persist- 
ent partisan  labor  to  destroy  the  last  vestige  of 
protection  to  the  imperilled  ballot  by  national 
authority. 

They  see  an  imperious  lust  for  power  in  the 
late  atrocious  conspiracy  to  withhold  from  gov- 
ernment the  force  to  shield  from  persecution  the 
black  race  of  the  South,  or  to  guard  the  ballot-box 
from  the  base  element  ready  to  prostitute  it  for 
base  ends. 

They  believe  that  a  Senator  spoke  for  the  people 
when  he  said  that  "the  nation  has  tasted  and 
drank  to  the  dregs  tfye  sway  of  the  Democratic 
party,  organized  and  dominated  by  the  same  in- 


168  ABOUT  GRANT. 

fluences  which  dominate  it  again  and  still.  You 
want  to  restore  that  domination.  We  mean  to 
resist  you  at  every  step  and  by  every  lawful  means 
that  opportunity  places  in  our  hands.  We  believe 
that  it  is  good  for  the  country,  good  for  every 
man,  North  and  South,  who  loves  the  country 
now,  that  the  government  should  remain  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  were  never  against  it.  We 
believe  that  it  is  not  wise  or  safe  to  give  over  our 
nationality  to  the  dominion  of  the  forces  which 
formerly  and  now  again  rule  the  Democratic  party. 
We  do  not  mean  to  connive  at  further  conquests, 
and  we  tell  you  that  if  you  gain  further  political 
power,  you  must  gain  it  by  fair  means  and  not  by 
foul." 

The  loyal  people  of  America  look  upon  the 
solid  South  as  the  survival  of  the  Rebellion.  With 
a  revulsion  that  words  fail  to  express,  they  see 
that  "local  government  in  one  portion  of  our 
land  is  no  better  than  despotism  tempered  with 
assassination."  The  nationalization  of  the  "solid 
South  "  they  see  will  open  elections  in  the  great 
Northern  cities  to  systematic  fraud,  so  that  suf- 
frage will  be  nullified  by  rascality. 

Therefore  while  the  spirit  of  rebellion  still 
lingers,  and  its  ambition  for  political  power  is 
plainly  divulged,  the  people  welcome  the  return 
of  one  who,  under  the  Providence  of  God,  has 
been  equal  to  all  our  late  emergencies ;  and,  as  an 
impending  menace  to  our  future  confronts  them, 
they  rejoice  — 


ffIS   WELCOME  HOME.  169 

"  That  now 

Ulysses  is  in  his  own  land  again, 
And  sits  or  walks  observant  of  the  deeds 
Of  wrong ; " 

ready  again,  if  it  be  the  will  of  the  people,  to  face 
the  enemy  he  has  so  often  routed. 


GRANT  AND  THE  NEXT  EMERGENCY. 


"  Cheer  answers  cheer  from  rise  to  set 
Of  sun.    We  have  a  country  yet. 
The  praise,  O  Lord,  be  thine  alone, 
That  givest  not  for  bread  a  stone  ! 
Thou  hast  not  led  us  through  the  night 
To  blind  us  with  returning  light ; 
Not  through  the  furnace  have  we  passed 
To  perish  at  its  mouth  at  last." 

WHITTIER  :  After  Election. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

THE    PERIL    OF    SOLIDITY. 

THIS  glance  at  Grant's  relation  to  our  national 
emergencies,  and  at  his  remarkable  career  since  his 
return  to  civil  life,  was  not  written  with  any  inten- 
tion of  intermeddling  in  the  approaching  contest 
over  the  twentieth  President.  Having  no  desire  for 
forming  or  anticipating  public  opinion  in  connec- 
tion with  the  near  election,  this  book  has  awaited 
the  return  of  Grant  to  this  country  before  con- 
cluding its  review  of  our  political  condition.  Its 
"excuse  for  being"  is  an  endeavor  to  record  the 
fact  of  an  unmistakable  public  sentiment  for  Grant, 
and  to  give  the  reasons  of  its  unexampled  force 
and  direction. 

The  welcome  extended  to  Grant  from  the 
moment  he  entered  the  Golden  Gate  in  September, 
to  this  hour,  has  exceeded  the  most  extravagant 
expectation  in  brilliance  of  demonstration,  hearti- 
ness of  enthusiasm,  and  outpouring  of  masses. 
The  populace  has  greeted  him.  It  is  an  unvarying 
story,  from  San  Francisco  to  the  last-visited  city, 
of  crowded  avenues,  uncounted  thousands,  and 
unbounded  delight.  The  movement  in  favor  of  his 

173 


174  ABOUT  GRANT. 

candidacy  has  assumed  national  proportions.  It  is 
a  movement  of  the  people.  The  party  manipula- 
tors have  been  quiet  and  cold,  if  not  averse  to  the 
popular  "  ground-swell."  In  most  States  the 
Republican  unity  for  Grant  is  without  precedent. 
In  spots  where  it  has  been  discovered  by  special 
illumination,  that  the  "  chief  end  of  man,"  as  a 
voter,  is  to  mutilate  his  ticket  to  make  it  perfect ; 
the  number  who  croak  over  the  disasters  of  1874, 
and  who  with  parrot-like  monotony  harp  on  a  few 
offensive  names,  is  small,  compared  with  those 
who  believe,  that,  take  him  for  all  in  all,  Grant 
will  best  secure  the  peace,  honor,  and  prosperity 
of  the  people.  Notwithstanding  frantic  efforts 
made  to  get  Grant  out  of  the  way,  by  making  up 
a  plethoric  purse  to  content  him  as  "  the  sands  of 
life  are  running  out,"  or  wild  projects  to  install  him 
into  the  presidency  of  trans-continental  canals  and 
railways ;  and  notwithstanding  the  more  ingen- 
ious bribe  of  a  new  military  title  and  occupation, 
with  the  attractive  accompaniment  of  a  large  in- 
come, and  life-tenure ;  notwithstanding  the  spleen 
of  uneasy  carpers,  and  the  railing  of  self-appointed 
moral  censors,  who  aspire  to  an  apron-string  au- 
thority by  which  they  can  lead  at  will  the  wayward 
multitude,  —  in  spite  of  all,  Grant  is  steadily  grow- 
ing in  strength,  and  the  tidal  wave  setting  in  for 
him  appears  irresistible  in  its  volume  and  mo- 
mentum. 

The  limited  character  of  the  Republican  oppo- 
sition is  manifest.     In  an  article  sneering  at  Grant, 


THE  PERIL   OF  SOLIDITY.  1 75 

a  semi-Republican  paper  takes  the  position  that 
"  those  who  have  the  public  weal  most  at  heart " 
resist  the  demand  for  his  nomination. 

Yet  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  where  the 
largest  showing  inimical  to  Grant  might  be  looked 
for,  in  a  convention  called  to  celebrate  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  the  Republican  party,  where 
its  veterans  were  gathered,  and  delegates  from  all 
parts  of  the  Commonwealth  were  assembled,  no 
name  mentioned  to  that  significant  body  of  citi- 
zens was  received  with  such  decided  satisfaction, 
or  with  such  unusual  or  prolonged  and  spontaneous 
applause,  as  the  name  of  Grant.  It  is  the  evi- 
dence of  speakers  in  the  late  campaign  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, that  any  reference  to  Grant  would 
waken  in  all  audiences  unwonted  ardor.  If  only 
those  among  Republicans  who  object  to  Grant 
have  the  public  weal  at  heart,  it  is  time  to  begin 
fasting  and  prayer  over  the  much-neglected  pub- 
lic welfare.  The  lamentable  failure  by  the  recon- 
structed section,  to  respond  favorably  to  honest 
and  earnest  efforts  of  President  Hayes,  to  estab- 
lish good  understanding  and  amicable  relations 
between  heretofore  contending  communities,  is  the 
secret  of  the  Grant  revival.  The  present  adminis- 
tration began  with  a  revolution  in  Republican  con- 
duct bearing  on  Southern  affairs.  It  stretched  out 
an  olive-branch  in  each  hand.  Federal  restraint 
was  taken  from,  and  the  policy  of  coercion  aban- 
doned in,  the  disaffected  States.  Paeans  were  sung 
as  the  Federal  soldier  retreated,  and  the  hated 


176  ABOUT  GRANT. 

carpet-bagger  passed  into  political  oblivion.  While 
the  President  and  Cabinet  with  considerable  flour- 
ish made  a  tour  of  fraternal  interchange  through- 
out a  portion  of  the  South,  in  order  to  give  the 
new  plan  of  peace  full  chance  of  success,  the 
North,  while  these  embraces  and  other  overtures 
of  friendship  were  transacted,  withheld  all  com- 
ment, criticism,  and  censure  of  the  performance. 
The  interregnum  of  reconciliation  was  short-lived. 
The  first  important  election  after  /the  voyage  of 
amity  revealed  the  hollowness  of  Southern  profes- 
sions of  good  faith.  The  predetermined  policy  of 
annihilating  Republican  majorities  was  quick  and 
complete  in  its  enforcement.  The  instrumentali- 
ties used  to  accomplish  this  end  were  frauds, 
brutalities,  and  massacres.  The  Mephistophelean 
advisers  of  the  Republican  party  say  to  it,  "  You 
cannot  go  into  the  presidential  canvass,  or  even 
go  to  the  convention,  and  draw  up  a  platform  of 
stalwart  principles  with  nothing  but  two  old,  and 
indeed,  we  might  say,  second-hand  murders." 
This  breezy  and  heartless  manner  of  dealing  with 
Southern  outrages  has  a  tendency  to  shock,  rather 
than  seduce,  the  patriotic  voter.  Fifteen  years 
have  gone  by  since  the  war,  and  the  peace  account 
closes  with  an  array  of  monstrous  facts,  the  dam- 
aging nature  of  which  can  be  no  more  refuted  than 
the  morality  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  or  the  * 
facts  of  the  multiplication-table.  When  the  sick 
fox  in  the  fable  despaired  of  his  health,  he  advised 
the  rest  of  his  race  to  improve  their  mode  of  life, 


THE  PERIL   OF  SOLIDITY.  177 

by  ceasing  to  plunder,  and  to  begin  making  a  more 
reputable  character  for  foxes.  One  of  the  band 
who  listened  remarked  that  the  counsel  was  good, 
but  it  was  given  too  late ;  the  hereditary  taste  for 
mutton  and  fowl  was  too  strong,  and  it  was  impos- 
sible to  effect  a  radical  change  of  heart  or  nature. 
Just  then  the  clucking  of  a  hen  was  heard :  it 
roused  the  instincts  of  the  dying  fox,  and  he  said, 

"  If  you  must,  you  must. 
Go,  but  be  moderate  in  your  food : 
A  chicken,  too,  might  do  me  good." 

So  the  Southern  instinct  was  found  to  be  inde- 
structible. A  little  negro  bull-dozing  always  seems 
to  do  it  good.  Mississippi  regained  her  standing 
as.  a  Democratic  State,  because  Republicans  fell 
back  from  the  range  of  the  deadly  rifle,  and  the 
muzzle  of  the  menacing  shot-gun.  The  abolition 
of  the  true  majority  enabled  a  Democrat  to  enter 
the  United-States  Senate. 

•A  Mississippian  who  had  contributed  largely 
towards  Democratic  restoration,  by  fidelity  to  the 
"plan,"  was  most  signally  rewarded  for  his  "gal- 
lant" services,  and  the  chief  person  in  the  cere- 
mony of  appreciation  was  their  Democratic  Sena- 
tor. The  distinguished  recipient,  having  altered 
his  politics,  was  subsequently  murdered  at  high 
•  noon  by  a  local  ruffian.  ,  No  word  of  reproach  for 
the  act  has  yet  come  from  the  Senator  who  once 
honored  the  victim  of  assassination.  The  silence 
of  Lamar  is  the  tribute  the  ablest  men  of  Missis- 


178  ABOUT  GRANT. 

sippi  must  pay  to  the  outlaws  who  rule  their  poli- 
tics. The  defence  for  this  shameful  silence  is, 
that  Southern  statesmen  will  not  condemn  lawless- 
ness while  the  North  meddles  with  the  matter. 
The  sealed  lips  and  bated  breath  of  the  North  is 
the  price  asked  for  an  indulgence  of  Southern 
indignation  for  killing  at  sight  a  man  on  the  other 
side  in  politics. 

The  plea  for  "  home  rule,"  that  it  is  better  for 
all,  that  the  white  minority  by  force  should  reduce 
the  black  majority,  is  a  blow  at  self-government. 

In  other  days,  when  any  one  dissented  from  the 
horrors  of  slavery  he  was  met  with  the  inane  query, 
"  But  you  don't  want  your  daughter  to  marry  a 
nigger,  do  you  ? "  Now,  if  protest  is  made  against 
murder  as  a  means  of  acquiring  Democratic  major- 
ities in  Republican  localities,  the  equally  imbecile 
question  is  put,  "Do  you  want  to  Africanize  the 
South  ?  " 

The  inventory  of  wrongs  inflicted  upon  the 
weaker  race  of  the  South,  and  upon  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  by  unfair  federal  representa- 
tion in  the  national  councils,  and  the  tragic  ending 
of  the  vaunted  era  of  reconciliation,  makes,  since 
the  days  of  "home  rule,"  an  appalling  record  of 
arrogance  and  infamy.  If  we  can  believe  Jeffer- 
son Davis,  he  has  never  seen  "a  reconstructed 
Southern  woman."  And  he  looks  to  such  women 
"  to  raise  up  children  to  vindicate  "  the  Rebellion. 
"Harper's  Weekly,"  in  an  article  on  Southern 
School-Books,  speaks  in  this  way  of  a  certain 


THE  PERIL   OF  SOLIDITY.  179 

book  :  "  Instead  of  aiming  to  make  the  youth,  for 
whom  it  is  prepared,  honorable  and  patriotic 
American  citizens,  it  seeks  to  make  them  '  South- 
erners.' Visit  a  Southern  school  to-day,  and  the 
embryo  orators  will  be  heard  rehearsing  in  the 
following  words  the  praise  of  'The  Confederate 
Dead  : '  '  They  represented  the  principles  of  self- 
government,  of  local  freedom,  and  of  the  right  of 
a  people  to  decide  their  own  political  associations. 
In  them  were  struck  down  those  ancient  and  hon- 
orable ideas.'  ' 

Said  the  President  of  the  Confederacy  for  which 
these  men  died  in  vain,  "  Our  new  government  has 
its  foundation  ;  its  corner-stone  rests,  upon  this 
great  truth,  that  the  negro  is  not  equal  to  the 
white  man ;  that  slavery,  subordination  to  the  su- 
perior race,  is  his  natural  and  normal  condition." 
The  object  of  Southern  education  is  to  pervert 
history,  by  embalming  in  the  affection  of  the  rising 
generation  of  that  region,  the  Confederate  dead,  as 
the  martyrs  of  liberty.  The  son  of  a  former  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  a  Confederate  officer 
in  high  command,  prior  to  his  death,  speaking  of 
George  Mason  of  Virginia,  said,  "  He  stood  for  a 
union  of  consent  and  love :  he  has  seen  one  of 
force  and  hate.  He  urged  independent  States  to 
create  a  common  servant,  the  Federal  Government 
as  a  useful  agent.  He  has  seen  the  creature  they 
called  into  being  rend,  like  Frankenstein,  its  crea- 
tors." Half  the  life  of  a  generation  has  fled,  since 
the  blood  of  the  dead  and  the  bravery  of  the  living 


l8o  ABOUT  GRANT. 

• 

Union  soldier  vindicated  the  idea  that  our  fathers 
reared  a  nation  among  men ;  yet,  in  face  of  the 
sacrifice  and  toil  of  a  hundred  years  of  American 
history,  to  infuse  into  the  children  of  one-third  of 
the  Republic  the  poison  of  State  superiority,  is  a 
part  of  the  common  daily  task  of  the  true  Southern 
teacher.  Henry  Watterson  holds  that  the  South 
might  justly  say  to  the  radical  leaders,  "  You 
alone,  among  Americans,  have  caused  the  cheeks 
of  honest  Americans  to  blush  for  their  country  in 
every  part  of  the  world."  The  unapproachable 
"cheek"  of  the  statement  defies  comment.  Hill 
of  Georgia  asserts  that  "  the  mission  of  the  Re- 
publican party  was  to  destroy  this  government." 

The  statement  has  been  made  in  Congress,  and 
never  successfully  contradicted,  that  four  hundred 
thousand  votes  have  disappeared  from  the  South, 
and  that  thirty-two  seats  in  Congress  are  fraudu- 
lently occupied  because  of  the  forced  destruction 
of  the  natural  majorities  in  terrorized  districts. 
The  Southern  neglect  to  provide  education  for  the 
negro  population  is  thus  referred  to  by  a  late  cor- 
respondent of  "The  Boston  Herald  :  "  — 

"  I  had  occasion,  in  a  recent  letter  on  the  school  system 
of  Virginia,  to  remark  the  indifference  of  the  Southerners  in 
this  matter  of  popular  public  education,  which  is  such  an 
important  feature  of  Northern  civilization.  If  any  thing 
goes  wrong  with  the  appropriations,  or  a  special  sum  is 
badly  needed,  or  some  public  improvement  is  proposed,  the 
first  effort  they  make  to  raise  the  money  is  by  cutting  down 
the  school  fund." 

Nine  Southern  States  have   openly  repudiated 


THE  PERIL   OF  SOLIDITY.  181 

their  debts,  or  have  defaulted  in  payment,  and 
propose  to  adjust  their  liabilities.  In  eleven 
Southern  States  the  postal  service  falls  behind 
more  than  two  millions  of  dollars.  Worse  than 
all,  local  misgovernment,  persecutions,  intimida- 
tions, tissue-ballot  stuffings,  shotguns  at  the  polls, 
and  other  characteristics  of  the  "  home  "  policy  of 
the  South,  have  depopulated  the  Gulf  States  of  a 
fearful  percentage  of  their  labor,  —  that  labor  by 
which  their  community  is  sustained,  and  by  which 
alone  it  merits  any  consideration  or  regard  from 
mankind.  The  community  that  distresses  or  dis- 
heartens its  labor  shows  an  incapacity  for  local, 
much  more  for  general,  government. 

The  failure  to  properly  furnish  education  for  the 
black  man  has  been  the  most  powerful  stimulus 
to  his  migration.  He  is  bound  to  go  where  there 
is  the  least  resistance  to  his  race,  and  where  his 
child  is  sure  to  be  taught.  The  exodus  is  an 
invincible  argument  against  the  ability  and  will 
of  the  Southern  people  to  rule  with  justice,  or 
govern  with  discretion.  Yet,  according  to  Senator 
Bayard,  the  "  South  does  not  need  legislation  :  the 
South  needs  sympathy  and  respect."  Respect 
and  sympathy  for  what  ?  Even  those  journals 
that  have  strenuously  advocated  the  policy  that 
the  South  should  have  its  own  way,  now  inform 
us  that  in  Louisiana  "the  machinery  of  elections, 
as  created  by  the  party  now  in  power,  is  in  no 
respect  an  improvement  on  the  old  machinery 
devised  by  the  carpet-bagger."  For  years  there 


1 82  ABOUT  GRANT. 

has  been  no  Federal  interference  to  inflame  the 
South.  No  provocation  has  goaded  it  to  its  sur- 
prising conduct.  The  South  is  solid  in  its  dislike 
of  the  Republican  party  of  the  nation,  solid  in 
its  determination  to  banish  the  existence  of  that 
party  within  its  province,  by  hereditary  inclina- 
tion. In  the  degree  that  it  has  gained  in  power, 
the  South  has  increased  its  haughtiness  and  inhu- 
manity. "The  man  who  has  one  hand  in  your 
pocket  strikes  the  other  in  your  face  ;  the  man 
who  has  both  hands  in  your  pocket  spits  in  your 
face."  When  the  South  had  only  the  House  of 
Representatives  under  its  control,  it  confined  its 
exercise  to  shotgun  practice  on  election  day. 
When  it  came  into  possession  of  the  Senate 
through  a  Democratic  majority,  it  boldly  proposed 
to  "  starve  the  government "  into  submission. 
Montaigne  says,  "  Whatever  be  the  cost  of  this 
noble  liberty,  we  must  be  content  to  pay  it  to 
Heaven." 

We  are  forced  to  choose,  as  American  citizens, 
between  conflicting  ideas,  institutions,  civiliza- 
tions. We  cannot  admit  that  the  grade  of  our 
free  civilization  is  a  debatable  question.  We  know 
its  advantages  as  we  know  that  the  tides  move,  or 
the  sun  shines.  The  census  avows  it.  Popula- 
tion attests  the  fact.  Libraries  garnered  at  great 
cost  and  care,  numerous  structures  devoted  to 
learning,  rapidly  increasing  wealth,  every  fea- 
ture that  testifies  to  a  prosperous  and  intelligent 
social  order,  use  of  books,  improved  methods  of 


THE  PERIL   OF  SOLIDITY.  183 

living,  extended  circulation  of  the  daily  press,  and 
the  added  number  of  Christian  churches,  Chris- 
tian seminaries,  and  Christian  charities,  — all  dem- 
onstrate the  superiority  of  Northern  civilization. 
Its  spread  is  the  hope  and  glory  of  the  future. 
To  doubt  or  to  disguise  its  superiority,  is  to  be 
false  to  truth  and  patriotism.  The  peril  before  us 
is  the  possibility  that  this  better  and  purer  civili- 
zation, based  as  it  is  on  equality  of  human  rights 
and  the  supreme  duty  of  universal  justice,  may  go 
down  in  the  next  election  before  a  weak  and  igno- 
ble civilization,  founded  upon  the  boasted  claims  of 
a  privileged  class,  and  having  little  identity  with 
the  progress  that  has  gained  for  the  Republic  the 
respect  of  the  world,  and  no  friendly  participa- 
tion with  the  victories  that  have  made  the  nation 
immortal  in  its  valor  and  renown. 


184  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

THE  BATTLE  AND  THE  BATTLE-GROUND. 

THE  sanctity  of  American  citizenship,  and  its 
protection  on  our  soil  with  the  same  vigilance  and 
assertion  that  shields  and  sustains  it  abroad,  are 
not  the  questions  now  to  be  decided. 

The  imperative  duty  of  national  education,  that 
popular  action  shall  accord  with  an  enlightened 
will,  is  a  matter  of  the  future. 

The  next  battle  is  to  determine  whether  the 
constitutional  legislation,  the  personal  rights,  and 
the  common  obligations  adjudicated  by  the  war 
settlements,  are  to  h/ive  local  governments,  or  the 
nation,  as  their  final  tribunal.  The  battle  of  to- 
day is  over  the  foundation  principle  that  the  vote 
of  the  country,  in  order  to  insure  fairness  of 
casting  and  accuracy  in  counting,  demands  national 
supervision  in  elections  pertaining  to  national  in- 
terests, and  cannot  safely  be  left  to  the  varying 
and  negligent  oversight  of  the  several  States. 
Whatever  doubt  may  exist  with  regard  to  other 
questions,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Constitu- 
tion is  meaningless  jargon,  unless  a  voter  in  Mas- 
sachusetts shall  be  certain  that  his  represented 
power  in  the  electoral  college  and  in  all  national 


THE  BATTLE  AND    THE  BATTLE-GROUND.    185 

bodies  is  not  abridged  or  overthrown  by  imperfect 
balloting  in  Mississippi  or  New  York.  The  con- 
flict before  us  is  to  pass  upon  the  essence  of  the 
national  contract,  and  the  validity  of  the  title  of 
national  government.  While  it  would  be  unwise 
needlessly  to  offend  the  worthy  portion  of  our 
countrymen  who  rally  under  the  banner  of  "in- 
dependence," it  is  riot  the  time  to  follow  doctri- 
naires, to  forget  experience,  or  fret  at  the  inevita- 
ble. The  fact  is  irrefutable,  that  our  political 
conduct,  active  or  passive,  will  assist  either  the 
party  ranging  with  the  "solid  North,"  or  the 
party  ranging  with  the  "solid  South."  They  are 
blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  whether  they  stand 
in  pulpits  or  write  at  editorial  desks,  who  teach 
that  there  is  no  choice  of  parties,  and  that  it  is 
of  little  moment  which  wins.  By  an  eternal  law 
parties  differ,  and  by  the  same  law  they  differ  for 
good  or  ill.  The  heresy  of  political  indifference, 
so  flippantly  paraded  by  chipper  critics,  strikes 
at  that  inherent  and  fundamental  morality  upon 
which  alone  the  social  and  political  structure  can 
be  wisely  reared. 

We  may  reconnoitre  about  or  skirmish  over 
revenues,  reform,  finance,  and  civil  administra- 
tion ;  but  the  main  battle  is  not  to  be  fought  on 
less  ground  than  a  test  of  civilizations,  and*  the 
best  title  to  the  possession  of  government.  We 
should  not  now  waste  our  energies^  on  fanciful  or 
frivolous  issues.  Even  important  affairs  must  be 
postponed.  However  momentous  may  be  the 


1 86  ABOUT  GRANT. 

controversy  over  civil-service  reform,  it  cannot  be 
made  the  "gage  of  battle."  Its  advocates  may 
have  sufficient  power  to  make  a  diversion  that 
will  jeopardize  the  cause  of  good  government, 
and  fatally  injure  the  cause  of  civil-service  ad- 
vancement ;  but  they  have  not  now,  nor  can  they 
have,  the  force  to  push  their  specialty  to  the  front. 

Experience  is  throwing  light  upon  both  the 
difficulties  and  the  proper  modifications  of  this 
grave  question.  As  President  Hayes,  who  at  the 
start  was  furiously  applauded  by  civil-service  re- 
formers, has  since  felt  the  slings  and  arrows  of 
outrageous  squibbing  from  his  former  admirers  ; 
it  may  happen  that  Grant,  whose  patriotism  is 
undoubted  in  public  affairs,  from  being  the  dread- 
ed Apollyon  in  the  path  of  civil-service  reform, 
may  prove  the  redeeming  agency  to  place  this 
reform  on  a  sound  and  practical  basis.  Rising 
above  the  consideration  of  merely  subordinate 
measures,  the  people  have  a  clear  perception  of 
duty  as  to  the  state  of  the  battle  and  the  field 
where  it  is  to  be  contested. 

The  battle-ground  is  the  pivotal  State  of  New 
York. 

There  are  a  certain  number  of  assured  votes 
"  solid  "  on  either  side.  It  is  the  thirty-five  elec- 
toral votes  of  that  State,  required  to  make  the 
majority  of  the  electoral  college,  that  cause  New 
York  to  be  the  scene  of  interest  and  struggle. 
The  situation  is  intricate. 

Ordinarily,  parties  there  are  so  nearly  balanced, 


THE  BATTLE  AND   THE  BATTLE-GROUND.    187 

that  certainty  of  calculation  is  an  impossibility. 
There  are  in  the  State  from  thirty  to  forty  thou- 
sand converts  to  the  gospel  of  "split  tickets." 
The  signs  that  help  "  Old  Probabilities  "  to  fore- 
cast the  weather  are  luminous  beside  the  political 
indications  of  the  Empire  State. 

To  wilfully  risk  the  result  of  the  strife,  by  bad 
leadership  or  thoughtless  management  of  the  fight, 
would  be  a  political  blunder  which  is  crime  against 
mankind.  The  rule  of  action  demanded  by  con- 
science and  intelligence  is  to  secure  strength  of 
position  and  command.  The  decision  of  the  bat- 
tle is  to  foreshadow  the  policy  of  the  country  for 
years.  If  the  "  solid  South  "  breaks,  it  is  the  end 
of  warfare  over  opposing  forms  of  civilization  that 
have  existed  in  some  phase  since  the  origin  of  the 
nation.  If  the  North  breaks,  we  must  enter  upon 
an  epoch  of  confusion  and  disorder  in  all  internal 
affairs,  uncertainty  as  to  the  bonded  debt,  cur- 
rency, and  the  tariff;  and  such  insecurity  con- 
cerning the  franchise  as  would  threaten  anarchy. 
The  magnitude  of  the  issue  should  force  us  to 
remember  that  the  contest  of  a  century  between 
State  rights  and  a  supreme  national  government 
constitutionally  endowed,  has  not  changed  in  its 
nature,  but  simply  in  the  method  of  its  campaign. 
We  should  not  forget  that  the  loss  of  national 
control  by  those  now  holding  it,  would  place  re- 
sponsibility upon  a  party  having  for  twenty  years 
no  history  but  that  of  dishonor,  no  creed  but 
that  of  negation  and  fault-finding.  The  sane 


1 88  ABOUT  GRANT. 

voter  is  compelled  to  the  conclusion,  that  a  peo- 
ple who  seem  unable  to  properly  develop  a  prov- 
ince should  not  be  empowered  to  minister  to  the 
needs  of  an  empire.  The  conscientious  voter, 
after  careful  examination  of  the  field,  sees  no 
prospect  of  perfection  in  civil  service,  from  acces- 
sion to  political  power  by  a  party  whose  greed 
for  spoils  has  been  heightened  by  long  abstinence 
from  the  pleasures  of  patronage.  He  sees  no 
hope  of  peace  in  the  success  that  ruptures  twenty 
years  of  national  memories.  He  sees  no  chance 
of  purity  in  the  triumph  of  a  political  organiza- 
tion that  vanquishes  its  opponents  in  States  by 
preventing  them  from  voting,  and  obtains  its 
majorities  in  cities  by  falsifying  returns.  He 
apprehends  no  progress  from  a  political  fraternity 
with  twenty  per  cent  of  its  members  religiously 
educated  to  fear  public  education.1  He  expects 
no  development  of  patriotism  from  the  domina- 
tion of  a  party,  of  which  forty  per  cent  have 
been  in  armed  resistance  to  the  Republic.  The 
wise  voter  regards  this  as  an  unfit  moment  for 

1  "  In  this  connection  the  Archbishop  (Williams)  reads  from  the  in- 
structions sent  to  the  bishops  of  the  United  States  through  the  Roman 
propaganda  in  a  document  dated  Nov.  24,  1875,  and  printed  in  some 
papers  in  this  country  soon  after  its  reception.  From  this  document,  now 
before  us  in  the  original,  we  gather  that  the  system  of  instruction  peculiar 
to  secular  schools  appears  even  in  itself  to  be  full  of  peril.  The  document 
proceeds  to  attribute  this  peril  to  the  severing  of  secular  from  religious 
instruction,  the  exclusion  of  the  authority  of  the  church  from  the  schools  ; 
the  opportunity  frequently  given  to  teachers  holding  sectarian  opinions  to 
infuse  error  into  the  minds  of  the  young,  so  plastic  and  receptive  in  the 
tender  age  of  school  days,  and,  in  some  cases,  the  co-education  of  the 
sexes."  —  Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 


THE  BATTLE  AND    THE  BATTLE-GROUND.    189 

trifling.  Whoever  treats  politics  lightly  or  as 
a  farce  should  be  impressed  by  the  records  of 
humanity  that  the  farces  of  politics  and  bad  gov- 
ernment have  preceded  all  the  bloody  tragedies 
that  have  cursed  the  world. 

The  thoughtful  American  citizen  reads  from 
Mirabeau  that  "  Liberty  is  pledged  to  liberty  ; 
they  are  indissolubly  allied  in  the  great  cause  ;  it 
is  an  alliance  between  God  and  nature,  immutable, 
eternal ;  "  and  he  seeks  in  this  country  the  party 
of  liberty  as  the  party  of  power  and  promise.  He 
reads  from  Chatham,  "  I  have  an  ambition  :  it  is 
the  ambition  of  delivering  to  my  posterity  those 
rights  of  freedom  which  I  have  inherited  from .  my 
ancestors  ;  "  and  a  like  ambition  fills  the  American 
heart.  He  reads  from  Erskine,  "  My  only  wish  is 
to  see  a  happy,  powerful,  disentangled  union,  that 
may  save  from  destruction  the  constitution  ;  "  and 
he  is  impelled  to  ally  himself  with  those  whose  con- 
secrated purpose  has  been  the  preservation  in  this 
land  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  He  reads 
what  Franklin  said  of  the  fathers  :  "As  long  as  the 
government  is  mild  and  just,  as  long  as  there  is 
security  for  civil  and  religious  interests,  the  Amer- 
icans will  be  respectful  and  submissive  subjects  ;  " 
and  he  holds  that  justice  to  all,  civil  and  religious 
privileges  to  all,  will  make  for  the  sons  a  contented 
citizenship.  He  reads  from  Bancroft,  "  that  in 
the  cabin  of  '  The  Mayflower '  humanity  received 
its  rights,  and  established  government  on  the  basis 
of  *  equal  laws  '  enacted  by  all  the  people  for  the 


I QO  ABOUT  GRANT. 

'  general  good  ; '  "  and  believing  that  the  "  general 
good  "  with  us  can  only  be  upheld,  that  "  equal 
laws"  here  can  only  be  established,  that  the  "rights 
of  humanity  "  in  this  nation  can  only  be  secured, 
by  a  constitutional  government  with  adequate  force 
to  protect  the  citizen  everywhere  in  his  rights, 
and  guard  his  ballot  everywhere  in  its  purity,  he 
is  for  that  party  of  the  nation  that  shall  wield  the 
power  of  the  nation  for  the  largest  personal  liber- 
ty and  the  most  impartial  justice.  He  looks  back- 
ward, and  sees  that  the  imperial  Commonwealth 
of  New  York,  with  four  million  souls  within  it,  was 
robbed  in  1868  of  the  will  of  the  people  by  the 
will  of  political  miscreants  cheating  at  the  polls. 
Later  he  has  seen  a  race  numbering  five  million 
souls  virtually  disfranchised  by  terrorizing  at  the 
polls  ;  and  he  prefers  to  trust  the  whole  people  of 
the  country,  rather  than  the  people  of  any  part  of 
it,  with  the  vital  duty  of  "  counting  by  the  head." 
Therefore  he  cherishes  the  warning  and  advice  con- 
tained in  the  eloquent  words  of  Senator  Elaine  :  — 

"  Organized  wrong  will  ultimately  be  met  by  organized 
resistance.  The  sensitive  and  dangerous  point  is  in  the 
casting  and  the  counting  of  free  ballots.  Impartial  suffrage 
is  our  theory.  It  must  become  our  practice.  Any  party 
of  American  citizens  can  bear  to  be  defeated.  No  party  of 
American  citizens  will  bear  to  be  defrauded.  The  men  who 
are  interested  in  a  dishonest  count  are  units.  The  men 
who  are  interested  in  an  honest  count  are  millions.  I  wish 
to  speak  for  the  millions  of  all  political  parties,  and  in  their 
name  to  declare  that  the  Republic  must  be  strong  enough, 
and  shall  be  strong  enough,  to  protect  the  weakest  of  its 


THE  BATTLE  AND    THE  BATTLE-GROUND.    191 

citizens  in  all  their  rights.  To  this  simple  and  sublime  prin- 
ciple let  us,  in  the  lofty  language  of  Burke,  '  attest  the  retir- 
ing generations,  let  us  attest  the  advancing  generations, 
between  which,  as  a  link  in  the  great  chain  of  eternal  order, 
we  stand ! '  " 


192  ABOUT  GRANT. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

THE   NATIONAL    NEED,  —  "A    STRONG    MAN." 

THE  sections  are  arrayed  in  antagonism.  Mere 
complaint  of  the  fact  does  not,  and  will  not,  evade 
the  weighty  peril  which  confronts  us. 
"  The  issue  of  1880  is,  whether  the  government 
as  administered  from  March  4,  1881,  is  to  be 
strengthened  by  an  unquestioned  title  to  power, 
is  to  represent  our  best  civilization,  is  to  be  con- 
ducted by  the  most  efficient  executive. 

To  do  this,  we  need  an  honest  ballot,  substan- 
tial peace,  and  a  "  strong  man." 

These  make  up  our  pressing  national  wants. 

The  minimum  of  risk  should  be  taken  to  meet 
the  coming  exigency.  States  uncertain  in  their 
political  action  are  to  decide  the  immediate  nation- 
al destiny.  The  strongest  leader  is  needed  to  at- 
tract the  doubtful  vote.  The  problem  of  candidacy 
is,  to  hold  the  largest  number  of  one  party,  and  to 
impress  favorably  the  largest  number  of  the  other 
party.  A  man  of  known  strength  of  character, 
patriotic  record,  firmness  in  administrative  capa- 
city, who  will  be  certain  to  draw  more  from  the 
Democrats  than  he  is  likely  to  lose  from  Republi- 
cans, is  the  standard-bearer  that  loyalty  should,  and 


THE  NATIONAL  NEED  — "A  STRONG  MAN."   193 

in  all  probability  will,  select.  Grant  is  the  candi- 
date combining  the  most  strength  with  the  least 
weakness.  There  are  men  of  influence  and  edu- 
cation who  do  not  want  Grant  again.  He  is  not 
desired  by  those  who  see  danger  in  a  "third  term," 
and  apprehend  evil  from  the  personal  element  in 
politics.  The  class  that  is  striving  to  crystallize  a 
sentiment  of  disrespect  to  parties  as  such,  aims  to 
develop  a  body  of  voters,  who,  by  the  process  of 
shifting  sides,  may  so  trim  the  ship  of  state,  as 
to  keep  it  safe.  The  danger  from  these  political 
Quixotes  is,  that  in  some  perilous  moment,  from 
sheer  prejudice,  they  may  so  shift  as  to  wreck  the 
craft.  There  would  be  flaws  found  in  any  nomi- 
nee. Though  one  possessed  the  purity  of  Galahad 
and  the  bravery  of  Launcelot,  he  would  have  quib- 
blers  and  defamers.  A  man  so  weak  or  insignifi- 
cant as  to  be  below  criticism  would  be  too  weak 
for  consideration  as  a  candidate.  Strength  of  per- 
sonal character,  strength  of  popular  support,  and 
the  fewest  objections,  make  the  strong  leader. 

Weak  points  in  the  candidature  of  Grant  are  so 
few  that  their  repetition  is  as  tiresome  as  their 
substance  is  trivial.  It  is  said  that  Grant  was 
President  during  the  Republican  overturn  of  1874. 
It  is  true.  Business  re-action,  and  its  consequent 
depression,  swept  aside,  as  like  disasters  have 
swept  and  will  sweep  aside,  the  party  in  power. 

As  well  might  Grant  be  charged  with  causing 
the  earthquake  at  Lisbon,  or  with  effecting  the 
periodical  visitation  of  the  Asiatic  cholera,  as 


194  ABOUT  GRANT. 

with  being  the  author  of  that  railroad  collapse 
which  led  to  the  panic  of  1873,  and  the  com- 
mercial and  political  prostration  that  followed  it. 

It  is  said  that  Grant  appointed  to  the  cabinet, 
and  other  important  positions,  men  who  proved 
corrupt.  It  is  so.  Washington  trusted  Arnold ; 
and  the  treachery  at  West  Point  could  as  con- 
sistently be  laid  to  the  first  President  as  the 
betrayal  later,  by  civil  traitors,  should  be  at- 
tributed to  the  eighteenth  President.  Men  who 
see  nothing  in  the  career  of  Grant  but  the  im- 
perfections of  his  official  term,  and  the  miscon- 
duct of  those  in  whom  he  unwisely  placed  con- 
fidence, have  for  him  an  incurable  aversion. 
Equally  beyond  the  reach  of  argument  are  those 
who  seek  perfection  in  any  presidential  choice. 
The  flawless  candidate  is  a  creature  of  Utopia. 
It  is  an  impossibility  to  have  any  man  selected  who 
would  satisfy  the  test  of  those  who  fancy  the  best 
way  to  show  an  interest  in  higher  politics  is  to 
"vote  in  air,"  —  a  process  which  amounts  to 
hurting  the  party  which,  on  the  whole,  is  best, 
and  helping  the  party  conceded  by  reformers  to 
be  the  worst.  No  one  has  any  chance  to  be 
put  in  nomination  by  the  Republican  convention 
who  was  not  a  member  of  that  "  senatorial  group," 
which,  after  Grant,  was  the  recipient  of  the  bit- 
terest comment  by  the  free-lance  element  in 
politics.  It  should  be  kept  constantly  in  sight, 
that,  outside  of  the  objection  to  three  terms,  no 
condemnation  or  reproach  is  urged  against  Grant 


THE  NATIONAL  NEED  —  "A   STRONG  MAN."   195 

but  would  exist  and  would  be  mooted  against  any 
Republican  leader  that  we  can  have.  If  fear  of  the 
"  Independent "  forces  the  overthrow  of  Grant's 
nomination,  the  successful  man,  by  his  party  alli- 
ance and  party  devotion,  will  furnish  opportunity 
to  those  who  have  an  itching  for  scratching,  to 
exercise  that  propensity.  If  we  are  to  have  a 
candidate  whose  party  fealty  is  to  be  used  against 
him,  to  take  the  one  strongest  in  all  other  qualifi- 
cations is  to  be  governed  by  plain  common  sense. 
It  is  not  with  any  faith  in  the  power  of  a  mere 
nomination,  or  any  dependence  upon  the  hollow 
pretence  of  "regularity,"  that  Grant  is  advocated. 
It  is  because,  in  an  emergency  of  no  common 
order,  all  things  considered,  he  is  the  "strongest" 
man.  If  those  who,  according  to  Whitelaw  Reid, 
vindicate  "  independence  only  by  sitting  on  the 
fence,  and  throwing  stones,  with  impartial  vigor, 
alike  on  friend  and  foe,"  can  defeat  Grant,  they 
.can  defeat  others.  Like  the  dog  in  "  Tynley  Hall," 
"  who  never  barked  at  any  one  but  the  members 
of  his  own  family,"  their  opposition,  under  any 
circumstances,  is  expected.  Neither  should  we 
be  misled  by  those  who  are  excessively  anxious 
that  Grant's  reputation,  now  so  enviable,  might  be 
impaired  if  he  were  once  more  President.  This 
is  the  plea  of  men  who  heretofore  have  been  prin- 
cipally engaged  in  marring  that  reputation,  and 
assailing  the  honor  of  Grant.  From  idle  chatter 
about  the  resuscitation  of  "  rings,"  the  restoration 
of  "bosses,"  and  the  re-appointment  of  obnoxious 


196  ABOUT  GRANT. 

men,  the  believers  in  Grant  turn  to  his  own  em- 
phatic declaration,  that  "  past  experience  may  guide 
in  avoiding  mistakes  inevitable  with  novices  in  all 
professions  and  in  all  occupations." 

"  The  Nation,"  in  denying  that  any  danger 
would  come  to  the  country  by  the  preponderance 
of  Southern  "  brigadier-generals "  in  Congress, 
says,  "  When  you  see  a  man  walking  into  a  big 
hole,  into  which  he  once  fell  and  broke  his  thigh, 
you  must  not  conclude  his  design  is  to  fall  in  again 
and  break  the  other  hip."  If  the  logic  is  sound 
in  the  case  of  a  Confederate  "  brigadier,"  that 
experience  teaches  caution,  it  is  as  good  for  a 
Union  general. 

The  insinuation  that  to  go  back  to  Grant  is  a 
confession  that  no  other  Republican  is  of  sufficient 
eminence  to  fill  the  Presidency,  is  answered  by  the 
statement,  that,  while  many  Republicans  would 
make  good  Presidents,  no  citizen  is  likely  to  make 
a  better  President  than  Grant,  and  no  one  can  so 
easily  or  surely  obtain  the  required  number  of 
votes.  We  have  hosts  of  good  men,  but  no  such 
man  as  Grant.  The  question  will  not  be,  whether 
the  American  people  will  drift  into  a  "  monarchy," 
or  become  an  "  empire,"  or  succumb  to  a  dic- 
tator ;  but  it  will  be  whether  they  prefer  Grant 
as  President  again,  or  the  Democratic  candidate 
who  runs,  or  makes  an  effort  to  run,  against  him. 
"Among  the  blessings  to  be  anticipated  by  another 
term  of  Grant,  putting  a  quietus  on  the  stock 
alarm,  that  the  life  of  the  Republic  will  expire 


THE  NATIONAL  NEED — "A  STRONG  MAN."   197 

on  account  of  a  third  choice  of  the  people  for 
the  same  man  as  chief  magistrate,  is  one  that 
will  be  both  lasting  and  incalculable.  If  the  lon- 
gevity of  popular  governments  hangs  on  such 
slight  events  as  a  third  term  or  no,  the  sooner 
the  delusion  of  free  institutions  is  exposed  and 
exploded,  the  better  for  the  world. 

They  who  are  made  unhappy  by  the  phantom 
of  an  "Atlantic  Caesar"  tell  us,  in  mournful 
numbers,  that  the  "man  on  horseback,"  in  the 
United  States,  "will  set  up,  by  intrigue  and  vio- 
lence, a  rule  which  will  have  absolutely  nothing  in 
common  with  the  government  organized  by  our 
fathers,  which  will  be  vulgar  through  and  through, 
steeped  in  corruption,  political  and  social."  That 
remarkable  political  "melancholia,"  which  visits 
its  victims  with  a  passion  for  nursing  the  decrepit 
"government  of  the  fathers,"  is  generally  attended 
with  a  gloomy  nightmare,  in  which  the  mounted 
Caesar  tramples  unchecked  over  the  ruins  of  the 
Republic. 

Let  us  observe  some  of  the  traits  of  the  man 
at  times  called  the  American  Caesar.  He  has 
been  for  three  years  under  the  gaze  of  the  people 
of  the  Old  and  New  Worlds.  We  find  him  at  the 
grammar-school  at  Stratford,  where  Shakspeare 
was  taught,  asking  "  a  holiday  for  the  boys  ;  "  and 
this  Caesar  of  ours  is  greeted  with  "three  times 
three  cheers."  He  says  to  the  working-men  of 
Birmingham,  "  Labor  disgraces  no  man."  Before 
an  arbitration-union,  this  imperialist,  speaking  of 


198  ABOUT  GRANT. 

universal  peace,  says,  "  I  would  gladly  see  the 
millions  of  men,  who  are  now  supported  by  the 
industry  of  nations,  return  to  industrial  pursuits." 
Listen  to  this  Caesar  as  he  tells  Englishmen,  that, 
in  America,  we  do  "not  quite  believe  that  it  is 
possible  for  any  one  man  there  to  assume  any 
more  right  and  authority  than  the  Constitution  of 
the  land  gives  to  him."  See  him  in  Paris,  visiting 
the  American  newspaper-office ;  slipping  "  in  of  a 
morning  to  seek  a  quiet  corner,  and  brood  over 
the  papers  for  an  hour  or  two."  See  him  pro- 
viding "an  assortment  of  coins"  to  scatter  to  the 
Italian  beggars  that  haunt  his  carriage.  See  him 
refusing,  at  Pompeii,  to  visit  "scenes  of  shame 
and  vice,"  which,  according  to  the  guide,  was  the 
"special  object  of  interest  to  tourists." 

Hear  one  who  journeyed  with  him  in  the  most 
intimate  manner  assert  that  he  had  "no  resent- 
ments," and  that  "  I  have  heard  him  refer  to  most 
of  the  men,  civil  and  military,  who  have  flourished 
with  him,  and  there  is  only  one  about  whom  I  have 
seen  him  show  feeling."  In  Egypt  Grant  meets 
an  ex-Confederate  general,  an  early  friend,  but 
"  his  enemy  during  the  war,"  and  extends  to  him 
a  cordial  recognition. 

Lounging  on  the  deck  of  the  Nile-boat,  lazily 
sailing  towards  the  scenes  of  a  civilization  that  has 
become  a  dream,  the  narrator  of  the  trip  says 
"  that  the  red-letter  days  of  our  Nile  journey  were 
when  Gen.  Grant  told  us  how  he  met  Lee  at  Ap- 
pomattox,  or  how  Sherman  fought  at  Shiloh."  An 


THE  NATIONAL   NEED  — "A   STRONG  MAN:1    199 

Egyptian  official  presents  Grant  with  an  Arabian 
steed ;  and  it  is  suggested  that  perhaps  it  would 
be  safer  to  "  pace  the  horse  up  and  down,  with  an 
attendant  to  hold  him."  The  answer  is,  "If  I  can 
mount  a  horse,  I  can  ride  him  ;  and  all  the  attend- 
ants can  do  is  to  keep  away."  This  is  the  sole 
Caesarean  view  of  the  "man  on  horseback  "  given 
us  in  his  foreign  tour.  At  Memphis,  "some  one 
proposes,  laughingly,  that  the  general,  who  is  on 
his  way  to  Turkey,  should  offer  the  Sultan  his 
services."  —  "  No,"  he  said,  "  I  have  done  all  the 
fighting  I  care  to  do ;  and  the  only  country  I  shall 
fight  for  is  the  United  States."  How  like  a 
Caesar !  At  Madrid,  he  will  not  see  a  bull-fight. 
At  Berlin,  we  are  told  that  a  "grand  review  is  on 
the  tapis,  which  Gen.  Grant  is  to  witness.  I  don't 
think  he  can  possibly  escape  this  time,  as  much  as 
he  is  disinclined  to  witness  military  pageants." 

In  an  interview  with  Bismarck,  our  Caesar  re- 
marks, "The  truth  is,  I  am  more  of  a  farmer  than 
a  soldier.  I  take  little  or  no  interest  in  military 
affairs  ;  and  although  I  entered  the  army  thirty- 
five  years  ago,  and  have  been  in  two  wars,  —  in 
Mexico  as  a  young  lieutenant,  and  later,  —  I  never 
went  into  the  army  without  regret,  and  never  re- 
tired without  pleasure."  At  a  dinner  given  on 
the  Fourth  of  July  at  Hamburg,  Grant's  health 
was  proposed  as  the  "man  who  had  saved  the 
country."  In  response,  among  other  things,  he 
said,  "  What  saved  the  Union  was  the  coming  for- 
ward of  the  young  men  of  the  nation.  They  came 


200  ABOUT  GRANT. 

from  their  homes  and  fields,  as  they  did  in  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  giving  every  thing  to  the  coun- 
try. To  their  devotion  we  owe  the  salvation  of 
the  Union.  The  humblest  soldier  who  carried  a 
musket  is  entitled  to  as  much  credit  for  the  re- 
sults of  the  war  as  those  who  were  in  command. 
So  long  as  our  young  men  are  animated  by  this 
spirit,  there  will  be  no  fear  for  the  Union." 

And  when  the  tide  of  welcome  had  rolled  in 
from  the  Pacific  slope  to  the  borders  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  and  a  vast  multitude  hung  breathlessly  upon 
the  words  that  came  from  their  fellow-citizen,  he 
said, — 

"  To  one  allusion  to  my  reception  abroad  I  will  say,  that, 
in  every  case,  I  felt  that  it  was  a  tribute  to  our  own  country. 
I  will  add  further,  that  our  country  stands  differently  abroad, 
in  the  estimation  of  European  and  Eastern  nations,  from 
what  it  did  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  At  that  time  it 
was  believed  we  had  no  nation ;  it  was  merely  a  confedera- 
tion of  states,  tied  together  by  a  rope  of  sand,  and  would 
give  way  upon  the  slightest  friction.  They  have  found  it 
was  a  grand  mistake.  They  know  that  we  have  now  a  na- 
tion ;  that  we  are  a  nation  of  strong  and  intelligent  and 
brave  people,  capable  of  judging  and  knowing  our  rights, 
and  determined  on  all  occasions  to  maintain  them  against 
either  a  domestic  or  foreign  foe ;  and  that  is  the  reception 
you,  as  a  nation,  have  received  through  me  while  I  was 
abroad." 

These  instances  of  a  grand,  simple,  patriotic 
nature  could  be  multiplied.  They  would  only 
tend  to  strengthen  the  feeling  shared  by  all  our 
countrymen,  except  those  who  are  dulled  by  preju- 


THE  NATIONAL   NEED  —  "A  STRONG  MAN."    2OI 

dice  or  imbittered  by  bigotry,  that  the  ambition 
which  attaches  to  the  name  of  Caesar  would  apply 
with  equal  fitness  to  Washington  or  Lincoln  as  to 
Grant. 

The  group  of  events  included  in  these  pages 
were  critical  occasions,  turning-points,  in  Ameri- 
can history.  They  were  so  interwoven  with  the 
life  of  the  Republic,  that  the  failure  of  any  one  of 
them  would  have  brought  utmost  disaster,  if  not 
defeat,  to  the  national  cause.  In  each  emergency, 
when  the  tide  of  misfortune  had  touched  the  point 
of  despair,  when  the  blow  that  cleft  in  twain  the 
domain  of  the  foe  settled  forever  neutrality  and 
emancipation,  when  the  scattered  armies  of  the 
enemy  were  driven  in  upon  their  centre,  when  the 
dream  of  a  Confederacy  dissolved  "  like  the  base- 
less fabric  of  a  vision,"  when  the  heroic  chief  of 
the  "lost  cause"  calmly  met  his  fate, — in  all 
these  supreme  moments,  one  commanding  figure 
is  the  centre  of  each  decisive  scene.  And  when 
the  roar  of  war  was  hushed,  to  be  supplanted  by 
the  roar  of  contending  factions,  when  the  halls 
of  the  nation  became  the  field  of  combat,  as  loyalty 
battled  defection  in  its  own  ranks,  the  same  clear 
head,  calm  mind,  and  steady  hand  guided  us  in 
the  "  pinch  "  of  reconstruction.  The  standard  of 
bad  faith  and  repudiation  is  raised  at  an  hour  when 
all  the  burdens  of  war  and  none  of  the  advantages 
of  peace  are  felt ;  and  he  is  chosen  to  lead  against 
the  hosts  of  dishonor  those  to  whom  the  fame  of 
the  Republic  was  no  less  dear  than  its  life. 


202  ABOUT  GRANT. 

Once  more  :  while  he  occupies  for  the  second 
time  the  Presidential  office,  an  alarming  conspiracy 
against  constitutional  money  and  honest  finance 
is  begun. 

The  fight  for  morals  and  conscience  and  good 
money  rages  at  last  about  him.  His  signature  as 
President  makes  into  law  the  policy  which  saved 
the  character  and  honor  of  the  nation  as  its  rights 
and  liberties  had  already  been  preserved. 

As  we,  the  countrymen  of  Grant,  have  seen, 
with  equal  emotions  of  wonder  and  admiration, 
the  great  divisions  of  the  earth  —  Europe  with  her 
peoples,  statesmen,  warriors,  and  rulers,  India 
with  her  palaces  of  marble  and  massive  temples 
adorned  with  chaste  minarets  and  lofty  domes, 
China  with  antiquities  that  reveal  the  misty  legends 
of  an  unknown  age,  Egypt  with  her  mysterious 
tombs  and  temples,  Japan,  old  in  her  civilization, 
young  in  her  hope  of  adopting  methods  of  modern 
life  —  all  bestowing  for  the  first  time  upon  an 
American,  honors  reserved  by  the  custom  of  coun- 
tries for  emperors,  kings,  and  princes ;  and  as 
beyond  all  this  mere  variety  of  ceremony  we  have 
seen  extended  to  our  countryman  a  personal  atten- 
tion and  regard  coming  from  the  very  heart  of 
many  races,  we  have  been  amazed  and  gratified 
at  a  recognition  such  as  the  civilities  of  nations 
have  rarely  lavished  upon  a  guest. 

Reaching  the  western  shores  of  his  native  land, 
his  countrymen  have  shown  an  estimation  for  his 
renown,  and  an  admiration  for  his  character,  no 


THE  NATIONAL   NEED  —  "A   STRONG  MAN."   203 

less  general  or  intense  than  that  which  attended 
him  in  strange  lands. 

To  some  of  his  fellow-citizens,  more  than  any 
'glory  won  at  arms,  higher  than  any  distinction  in 
civil  affairs,  dearer  than  ovations  to  his  greatness, 
purer  and  fairer  than  any  laurel  he  wears,  ranks 
that  tribute  he  has  made  to  morality,  that  contri- 
bution to  the  dignity  of  sober  self-command.  The 
hearts  of  Christian  men  and  women  go  out  to  him 
for  his  adherence  to  the  truth  that  social  delight 
and  customs  and  personal  gratification  are  nothing 
compared  with  the  grandeur  of  an  example  which 
helps  to  lift  the  race  to  a  standard  of  self-denial 
and  sobriety. 

Tried  as  no  other  American  has  been,  tested  in 
the  fire  and  heat  by  which  the  calibre  of  true  men 
is  determined,  in  a  new  danger  that  threatens  the 
fruits  of  a  war  which  reeked  with  blood,  and  the 
gains  of  a  peace  terrible  in  its  lessons,  and  the  veri- 
fication of  the  title  of  a  government  we  are  either 
to  administer  or  obey,  —  when  all  that  we  hold 
priceless  hangs  trembling  in  the  balance,  human 
nature  would  require  re-creation,  if  it  did  not,  in 
the  emergency  before  us,  look  to  the  citizen  who 
had  so  often  been  the  providential  agent  of  our 
deliverance  from  peril  in  the  past. 

The  underlying  motive  or  instinct  of  that 
mighty  impulse  that  turns  to  him  again  is  the 
conviction,  that,  surer  than  by  any  other  method, 
another  term  of  administration  by  Grant  will 
disperse  the  solidity  of  sections,  bury  the  feuds 


204  ABOUT  GRANT. 

and  animosities  of  years,  and  bring  about,  on  the 
basis  of  equality  for  all,  a  final  settlement  of  the 
costly  and  unhappy  division  of  the  people. 

In  the  presence  of  a  political  contest  freighted 
with  issues  bearing  on  the  welfare  of  millions, 
and  the  concern  of  a  nation,  it  seems  puerile  to 
question  and  dishonorable  to  deny  the  imperative 
demand  for  a  "strong  man."  Of  Grant  it  can 
be  said,  as  Guizot  said  of  Washington,  "  He  had 
in  a  superior  degree  the  two  qualities  which  in 
active  life  render  men  capable  of  great  things : 
he  could  believe  firmly  in  his  own  ideas,  and  act 
resolutely  upon  them,  without  fearing  to  take  the 
responsibility."  Strong  in  the  possession  of  at- 
tributes that  made  Washington  great,  Grant  of 
living  leaders  is  the  strongest  and  safest,  —  strong 
in  the  memories  of  a  grateful  people  for  his  skill 
and  prowess  as  a  soldier ;  strong  in  that  histori- 
cal position  which  places  him  in  the  front  of  the 
foremost  men  of  his  day ;  strong  in  that  eminent 
virtue  of  decision  and  judgment  which  enables 
him  to  grapple  successfully  with  the  most  com- 
plicated difficulties ;  strong  in  that  patriotic  in- 
stinct which  makes  right  action  the  sole  means 
to  the  "general  good;"  strong  in  the  possibilities 
of  peace,  which  he  more  than  any  man  will  be 
able  to  secure  for  the  whole  land  ;  and,  above  all, 
strong  in  those  moral  convictions,  buttressed  on 
religious  belief,  that  teach  that  the  love,  the  lib- 
erty, the  justice,  revealed  to  man  as  a  divine 
standard  of  conduct,  when  incorporated  into 


THE  NATIONAL  NEED  — "A  STRONG  MAN."   205 

American  laws,  and  reflected  in  daily  American 
life,  will  attain  for  us  that  "pursuit  of  happiness" 
which  was  one  of  the  fundamental  promises  of  the 
American  Constitution,  and  will  yet  be  the  pos- 
session of  an  approaching  American  civilization. 
May  we  not,  under  the  guidance  of  this  "  strong 
man,"  realize  for  the  Republic  the  glowing  vision 
imagined  by  Milton  ?  — 

"  Methinks  I  see  in  my  mind  a  noble  and  puissant  nation, 
rousing  herself  like  a  strong  man  after  sleep,  and  shaking 
her  invincible  locks. 

"Methinks  I  see  her  as  an  eagle  mewing  her  mighty 
youth,  and  kindling  her  undazzled  eye  at  the  full  midday 
beam ;  purging  and  unsealing  her  long-abused  sight  at  the 
fountain  itself  of  heavenly  radiance ;  while  the  whole  noise 
of  timorous  and  flocking  birds,  with  those  also  that  love  the 
twilight,  flutter  about,  amazed  at  what  she  means." 

The  meaning  of  the  American  Republic  is  to 
live  up  to  its  own  ideal.  Her  citizens,  whether 
they  number  fifty  or  thrice  fifty  millions,  whether 
they  be  black  men  from  Africa,  yellow  men  from 
China,  red  men  of  the  forests,  or  men  of  whiter 
hue,  must  enjoy  entire  recognition  of  those  rights, 
and  that  exact  and  equal  balance  of  political  will, 
given  them  by  the  laws  of  God,  and  re-enacted 
for  their  benefit  by  the  laws  of  the  land.  The 
American  nation  has  no  meaning,  unless,  in  the 
spirit  with  which  our  ancestors  sang,  "  A  church 
without  a  bishop,  a  state  without  a  king,"  we  cause 
all  class-distinction  and  every  remnant  of  caste 
to  recede  and  vanish  before  our  advancing  civili- 


206  ABOUT  GRANT. 

zation.  It  is  no  blind  worship  of  brute  force  as 
such,  no  unmanly  idolatry  for  a  military  con- 
queror, which  inspires  the  appeal  of  freemen  for 
a  "  strong  man."  Time  has  taught  them  that  no 
event,  great  in  its  consequences  for  good  in  the 
world,  has  ever  come  unattended  with  a  man  of 
nerve  and  strength  to  direct  it,  —  that  nerve  and 
strength  described  by  Tennyson,  when  he  mourns 
Wellington,  as  a  man 

"  Who  never  sold  the  truth  to  serve  the  hour ; 
Nor  paltered  with  eternal  God  for  power; 
Who  let  the  turbid  streams  of  rumor  flow 
Through  either  babbling  world  of  high  or  low; 
Whose  life  was  work,  whose  language  rife 
With  rugged  maxims  hewn  from  life ; 
Who  never  spoke  against  a  foe." 

Such  a  man,  if  ever,  is  now  a  national  necessity. 
As  the  nation  moves  forward  to  unfold  the  genius 
of  government  born  on  the  deck  of  "  The  May- 
flower;" as  she  seeks  to  realize  for  man  the  rights 
promulgated  in  the  charter  of  independence ;  as 
she  strives  to  hold  to  the  sublime  purpose  for 
which  the  blood  of  her  children  was  consecrated  ; 
and  as  she  struggles  for  that  equality  sacredly 
ordained  in  the  amended  Constitution,  she  asks, 
"  Who  shall  lead  on  ?  "  The  answer  is  upon  the 
lips  of  millions  of  patriotic  citizens  :  "  Let  us  once 
more  be  led  by  Grant." 


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